Modi’s trip is not India’s first, many seaplane services took off in the past

Narendra Modi waves to the crowd as he boards a seaplane on the Sabarmati river front in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. PTI Photo by Santosh Hirlekar

New Delhi: Several media reports claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took India’s “first ever seaplane” ride when he flew from Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad to Dharoi dam in Mehsana Tuesday.

Screenshot of India Today’s tweet

Screenshot of Economic Times’ tweet

Screenshot of ABP’s tweet

However, these reports are misleading. This is not India’s first seaplane trip.

A video of a seaplane launch in Kerala. It was uploaded in 2013.

There have been several in the past, with the most notable ones being:

1. Jal Hans, a commercial seaplane service based in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was first launched in 2010. The first seaplane to fly was the Cessna 208.
2. Kerala launched a seaplane service in 2013, its first plane being the Cessna 206.
3. In fact, a seaplane flight took place just this weekend in Mumbai, conducted by SpiceJet.

TripAdvisor also offers a seaplane service from Mumbai to Lonavla, which was launched in 2014.