Thiruvananthapuram: A nine-seater seaplane procured by Wings Aviation from the US has taken off from Miami and is expected to arrive at the Begumpet airport, Hyderabad by Nov 19. According to Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited (KTIL) managing director Anil Kumar, the seaplane services would commence in India before the end of year, and well in time before the 35th National Games. KTIL is currently entrusted with the implementation of the project.
"We wanted to bring in the aircraft by September, but had to re-route the flight plan because of restricted air space over the Ukrainian war zone. Unexpected typhoons and tornadoes also added to the delay. The seaplane can fly for four hours and only in daylight. Also, we had to gather landing permission from around 15 airports, of which three refused to give us permissions for various reasons," said, Umesh Kamath, chief managing director, Wings Aviation.
The KTIL had extended its early bird incentive from April 30 to Oct 31 hoping that it would rally potential seaplane operators to begin services as soon as possible. Now the operator is planning to seek a two-month extension on the early-bird deadline.
12/11/14 Sangeetha Nair/Times of India
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"We wanted to bring in the aircraft by September, but had to re-route the flight plan because of restricted air space over the Ukrainian war zone. Unexpected typhoons and tornadoes also added to the delay. The seaplane can fly for four hours and only in daylight. Also, we had to gather landing permission from around 15 airports, of which three refused to give us permissions for various reasons," said, Umesh Kamath, chief managing director, Wings Aviation.
The KTIL had extended its early bird incentive from April 30 to Oct 31 hoping that it would rally potential seaplane operators to begin services as soon as possible. Now the operator is planning to seek a two-month extension on the early-bird deadline.
12/11/14 Sangeetha Nair/Times of India
