Context: The first of the five seaplane services in Gujarat, connecting Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia in Narmada district, will be inaugurated on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

• While the other spots are, Dharoi dam in Mehsana district, to connect Ambaji and Shatrunjay dam in Palitana of Bhavnagar district as well as Tapi in the next phase.

Connection Route

• In Kevadia, the proposed Terminal will be spread over 0.51 acres in the premises of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd., located in the Panchmuli lake (Dyke 3) of the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Limdi village. 
• It is approximately 90 kms from Vadodara, 150 kms from Surat and 200 kms from Ahmedabad — with an aerial distance of 74.6km from Vadodara airport. 
• The Terminal building will have a plinth area of 340 m and will be equipped with provision of all modern amenities, including two check-in counters, one ticketing, facilitation and concessionaires counters on the land side. 
• A daily inflow of 200 passengers is estimated as per the proposal.
• Earlier, In India, Jal Hans, a commercial seaplane service based in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was launched as a pilot project on 30 December 2010 by the then Indian Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel with a capacity of 10 passengers.

Operating Agency

• Officials say that SpiceJet will operate a 19-seater plane, which will be able to accommodate 14 passengers.
• The company has entered into a contract with a French company, which overtook the original Japanese manufacturer of 10-14 seater seaplanes.

Where else do seaplanes operate?

• Seaplanes by multiple airline carriers are operational in countries like the Philippines, Canada, Australia, the United States, Finland, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Maldives and Hongkong.

About the project

• The first seaplane project of the country is part of a directive of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation. 
• As per the directive, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) requested state governments of Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the administration of Andaman & Nicobar to propose potential locations for setting up water aerodromes to boost the tourism sector.

Its Structure

• A seaplane is a fixed-winged aeroplane designed for taking off and landing on water. 
• It offers the public the speed of an aeroplane with the utility of a boat. There are two main types of seaplane: flying boats (often called hull seaplanes) and floatplanes.
• The bottom of a flying boat’s fuselage is its main landing gear. This is usually supplemented with smaller floats near the wingtips, called wing or tip floats. 
• The hull of a flying boat holds the crew, passengers, and cargo; it has many eatures in common with the hull of a ship or a boat.

Its Environmental Impact
As per the Expert Appraisal Committee

• the activities proposed under the water aerodrome project may have a similar type of impact as that of an airport.
• In Narmada, the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is located at an approximate aerial distance of 2.1 km from the proposed project site in south-west direction while the nearest reserve forest is situated at a distance of 4.7 meters in east direction, which serves local sensitive species of fauna.

As per government

• “During seaplane operations, there will be turbulence created in the water while takeoff and landing of seaplanes. 
• This will lead to more operation process i.e. mixing of oxygen in the water. 
• This will have a positive impact on the aquatic ecosystem near seaplane operations increasing oxygen content and decreasing carbon content in this system.”

Additional Information
About Water Aerodrome

• An area of open water that can be used by seaplanes or amphibious planes for landing and takeoff is called a water aerodrome. 
• They might have connected terminal building on land where the plane can choose to dock like a ship.