MEHAIR connects Juhu and Mula Dam
The seaplane service connects Mumbai to Meherabad, Shirdi and Shani Shinglapur. Besides Pawana and Mula Dam, MEHAIR is also poised to launch services to Gangapur Dam in Nashik and Dhoom Dam in Mahabaleshwar (Satara district).
After the launch of seaplane services in Maharashtra between Mumbai and Pawana Dam (Lonavala), MEHAIR and MTDC recently announced the next destination of the seaplanes service from Juhu to Mula Dam. The first passenger flight took off from Juhu Aerodrome, Mumbai and landed at Mula Dam, which is a waterdrome located between the religious destinations of Meherabad, Shirdi and Shani Shinglapur recently.
These three religious destinations attract lakhs of pilgrims throughout the year. The flights have commenced with one flight a day departing Mumbai at 0830 Hrs. On Thursdays, there will be two flights departing from Mumbai at 0830 Hrs and 1400 Hrs respectively. All will be quick turnaround flights with only 15 minutes of stop at Mula Dam.
Siddharth Verma, CoFounder & Director, said, “We have received tremendous response from the fliers for Pawana (Lonavala). The serv- ice will now enable a large number of pilgrims travelling to the holy sites of Meherabad, Shirdi and Shani Shinglapur to travel quickly and conveniently to their destinations in about 45 mins plus a short road trip, as opposed to a 6-hour journey by road. We are confident that the people will see the immense value of the service and will take full advantage of it.”
Besides Pawana and Mula Dam, MEHAIR is also poised to launch services to Gangapur Dam in Nashik and Dhoom Dam in Mahabaleshwar (Satara dis- trict) in the coming weeks. The amphibian planes will eventually connect Mumbai with multiple tourist destinations in the state, adjacent to suitable water bodies even though there may not be any runways at these destinations.
The seaplane service was launched in Maharashtra with Cessna 208 Amphibian aircraft (9 seater) and Cessna 206 Amphibian (4 seater) in the month 25th august 2014. These two models can accommodate 9 to 4 passengers respectively.