Budget may finally make sea planes a reality in India

NEW DELHI: The Union Budget presented on Sunday has tried to give a push to seaplanes in India, where the service has started with fits & starts and never really taken off so far. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “To enhance last-mile and remote connectivity, and promote tourism, I propose to give incentives to indigenise manufacturing of seaplanes. A seaplane viability gap funding scheme will be also be introduced to provide support for operations.”

SkyHop Aviation could be among the first to restart seaplane service in the country. The company hopes to get its licence from the DGCA this month. Three of the four De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft of erstwhile Fly Big airline are likely to be used by Sky Hop. De Havilland is getting floaters for these amphibious aircraft so that they can take off and land in water.




SkyHop Aviation CEO Avani Singh said: “The seaplane push announced in Budget 2026 is a welcome and much-needed step. For a country like India, with a long coastline, islands and extensive inland waterways, seaplanes can change the way remote and hard-to-reach regions are connected and open up entirely new parts of our country to tourism. The viability gap funding support is especially important as it makes these operations financially feasible and gives confidence to operators to invest and scale up. Over time, this can significantly boost regional connectivity, tourism and local economies, and provide a real boost to the aviation sector.”

Avani Singh is the daughter of SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh. The low cost carriers had briefly started seaplane service in Gujarat some years ago but could not sustain the same. Now with the Union Budget’s push to seaplanes, the tourism industry hopes India gets this facility.