Private low-cost airlines Spice Jet is planning to set up a sea plane manufacturing hub in Bengal. The announcement was made at the inaugural session of the 4th edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit by Mr Ajay Singh, chairman of the airlines.
“Bengal is a state of rivers and lakes and for movement of sea planes any river or lake can be used as a runway or airport. We are planning to set up a hub of sea plane manufacturing in the state. The move will also give a major boost to tourism with popular tourist destinations like Gangasagar, Sunderbans connected by these sea planes,” Mr Singh said. According to Mr Singh, Spice Jet will start direct flights to Chittagong and several ASEAN countries by the end of 2018.
“One of the big issues for the state has been the commencement of flights from the greenfield airport at Durgapur. We will connect Durgapur with Bengaluru and Hyderabad soon,” he added.
Presently, Spice Jet operates as many as 70 flights a week from Kolkata Airport including flights to Bangkok and Dhaka. The company is planning to run more flights to more destinations. He said with the union government,’s Look East Policy , Bengal will see the introduction of more flights in the next few years.
Singh said Spice Jet has placed orders for the manufacture of 250 airplanes at an investment of more than Rs 150000 crore and committed that many of these planes will leave from Bengal. Meanwhile, Mr Niranjan Hiranandani of H Energy Group announced bringing “cleaner, greener and more efficient fuel” to the households of the state along with gas retail outlets in five districts.
Mr Sanjeev Goenka of PR Sanjeev Goenka Group announced building a hospital, an investment of Rs 1000 crore in power distribution network, 150,000 distribution outlets and a new FMCG Park.
Mr Kishore Binani, CEO of Future Group announced that the group will increase its manpower from 10,000 to 55,000 in one year and spread in 14 districts from the
existing 10.