Shipping Ministry looks to push sea plane ops in Andaman, Lakshadweep

Subject : Geography

Section: Places in news

Context:

India’s Shipping Ministry has selected 10 locations, four across Andaman and six Lakshadweep, as probable ones to ramp up infrastructure and begin sea-plane operations in the initial phase.

Details:

The Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) will be setting up the infrastructure across these islands.
The infrastructures include floating navigation systems, and water-aerodromes, among other requirements.
Routes will be managed by private players.
Locations of Andaman- Long Island, Neill Island, Havelock Island and Port Blair.
Locations of Lakshadweep- Minicoy, Kavaratti and Agatti (the other 3 will be decided later).
The seaplane routes will be awarded under the UDAN scheme.
Airports Authority of India (AAI), has so far awarded 14 Water Aerodromes (sea plane routes) under UDAN, which include Sardar Sarovar Dam (Statue of Unity), Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad; Havelock Island, Neill Island, Long Island and Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands; Guwahati riverfront and Umrangso Reservoir in Assam; Nagarjuna Saga Dam in Telangana; Prakasam Barrage in Andhra Pradesh and Minicoy, Kavaratti, Agatti in Lakshadweep Islands.

UDAN Scheme:

Launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for regional airport development and regional connectivity enhancement.
It is a part of the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016.
The scheme is applicable for a period of 10 years.
Objectives:
- Improve the air connectivity to remote and regional areas of India.
- Development of remote areas and enhancing trade and commerce and tourism expansion.
- Enable common people to access air travel with affordable rates.
- Employment creation in the aviation sector.
Currently, phase V (UDAN 5.0) of the scheme is under implementation.
- It focuses on Category-2 (20-80 seats) and Category-3 (>80 seats) aircrafts.
- There is no restriction on the distance between the origin and the destination of the flight.