Spicejet signs pact with Japanese firm to operate planes on water, land

The airline will study the commercial viability of using amphibious planes that can take-off and land from short, unimproved strips of land as well as water bodies.

Soon you can land on water or small piece of land. Low-cost carrier Spicejet had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Setouchi Holdings for 10 and 14-seater amphibious plane operations.

If approved by authorities, Spicejet may order over 100 such planes by October 2018. (Reuters File Photo)

In the next year, the airline will study the commercial viability of using amphibious planes that can take-off and land from short, unimproved strips of land as well as water bodies.

If approved by authorities, Spicejet may order over 100 such planes by October 2018.

“...the ground reality remains that only about 3% Indians travel by air. Infrastructural challenges have been a key deterrent for providing air connectivity to smaller towns and cities...” Spicejet CMD Ajay Singh said.

“Spicejet has been a big supporter of the government’s UDAN scheme. With the ability to land in a small or confined space, smaller fixed-wing aircrafts are the perfect flying machines that can effectively connect the country’s remote cities and airstrips which can in turn revolutionise the regional connectivity scheme,” he added.

The planes have been demonstrated in flight in Nagpur and Guwahati.