SpiceJet to explore sea-plane manufacturing in Bengal: Ajay Singh

Kolkata: Private low-cost carrier SpiceJet would explore the possibility of manufacturing sea-planes in West Bengal, its chairman Ajay Singh said.

The announcement was made at the inaugural session of the 4th edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit that kicked off in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Singh said there was a potential for making West Bengal a hub for sea-planes which can fly to Gangasagar, Sunderbans and other parts of the state.

"We would like to fly these sea-planes in the state to boost tourism as well to explore the possibility of manufacturing them in the state," Singh said before a gathering of eminent industry captains of the country.

Presently, 75 SpiceJet flights operate from Kolkata airport, and the number would increase once more aircraft arrive.

It may be mentioned that Spice Jet recently held a trial run of a seaplane on river Sabarmati with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December.

According to Singh, his company would be starting direct flights to Chittagong and a handful of ASEAN countries like China hopefully by the end of 2018 from Kolkata airport.

" One of the big issues for Bengal has been the commencement of more flights from the greenfield airport at Andal in Durgapur. We will connect Durgapur with Bengaluru and Hyderabad soon," he added.

Presently, Spice Jet operates as many as 70 flights a week from Kolkata Airport including to destinations like Bangkok and Dhaka. He further mentioned that under the Centre's Look East Policy, Bengal could see the introduction of more flights to different destinations in the next few years.

The Spice Jet top honcho said that the carrier had placed orders for the manufacture of 250 aeroplanes at an investment exceeding Rs 15,0000 crore and in the same breath committed that many of these planes would take off from Bengal.