Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy officially launches the country's first seaplane service from the backwaters in Kollam on Sunday.

At the begining, the six-seater Cessna 206 H amphibian aircraft will be appropriate for this service, which is officially scheduled to be launched for tourists in the month of August.

State Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar said that approximately by the end of this year, four more companies will be launching their seaplanes. He added that these four companies would  be operated from places: Mangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Khozikode airports to the backwaters in Alappuzha, Kasargode, Ernakulam, and Kollam, districts.

After all, The launch of the service, faced objection from a left-backed fishermen’s organisation at Alappuzha, which forced the seaplane to change its landing location.

Subsequently  tourism minister added that due to poor weather conditions, and objection at  Alappuzha, he did not want the seaplane to land there.

Kumar said that the fishing community at Kollam has given its acceptance to the tourism project. He added that, we can have conversations with the community at Alappuzha and assure them that it will not threaten their profession. He also said that he travelled on the seaplane around the Kollam city.

(AW:Chitra)