Maritime Energy Heli Air Services (MEHAIR) is looking to invest INR 100 crores to increase its fleets and expand to new destinations. The company launched its seaplanes services in India in January 2011 and has operated seaplanes in the Andaman & Nicobar islands for three and a half years before launching the service in Maharashtra in August 2014.
Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Siddharth Verma, director, MEHAIR said, “We have signed an agreement with Goa Tourism to launch seaplane services there and the trials are likely to be completed within the current month. The Commercial services within Goa will be commenced shortly after. MEHAIR is also looking at Kerala and Andhra Pradesh as other possible destinations for seaplanes operations. We are looking to have a fleet of about five seaplanes within this financial year. The total investment in the project over the next 12 months is likely to be about 75- 100 Crs.”
The company’s operations ex-Maharashtra cover the tourist destinations of Lonavala (Pavna Dam), Ambay Valley lake and the spiritual destinations of Meherabad, Shirdi and Shani Shinglapur in Ahmednagar district. The company is enjoying a good response on all routes specifically the Mumbai – Lonavala route which almost always remains booked specially throughout the weekends.
Verma added, “Based on the initial response to the service, the company has been encouraged to increase the seaplane footprint even further across the state and has undertaken trial landings to (Mahabaleshwar) Dhom Dam, Ganpatipule (Jaigarh Port), Nasik (Gangapur Dam) and even the much anticipated Juhu – Girgaum Chowpatty sector. The company is poised to launch commercial operations to most of these new destinations by May, 2105.”