NEW DELHI: India’s tourism industry could soon get a fillip with the re-introduction of seaplanes. Commercial aviation player Spicejet is scheduled to sign a MoU with Japan’s Setouchi Holdings next week when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits India, bringing seaplanes back to Indian skies.TOI has learnt once the agreement is inked, the Indian player will start work to bring seaplanes to India. Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari has in the past declared his support for the plying of seaplanes in the country to promote tourism and in order to improve regional connectivity. Seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft, which can take off and land on water. These can also take off and land on airfields. There is huge potential of their use for tourism, not just for leisure but also in case of crises or emergencies since these can reach the remotest areas and can land on water bodies.Setouchi Holdings is a member of a Japanese group of companies which is a major player in shipbuilding, logistics and other transportation-related industries. In 2015, the Japanese player had bought Quest Aircraft, the manufacturer of the 10-seat Kodiak single-engine turboprop designed for backcountry aviation.Sources said Setouchi Holdings is considering to have its global maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in India and this will be part of the memorandum of understanding, which it will sign with Spicejet.Spicejet spokesperson did not respond to TOI queries.The country’s first seaplane was launched in 2010 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But later the services were stopped due to non-renewal of the agreement and because the service became financially unviable. The Andaman and Nicobar administration had subsidised travel for locals from small islands.Seaplanes are popular in island nations like Maldives. India has about 1,300 big and small islands along the coast and government plans to develop many of them for promotion of tourism.Just months after taking charge of shipping ministry, Gadkari had mooted the idea of joint ventures to build seaplanes in which global companies could hold majority stakes. He had said, “If we start manufacturing seaplanes in India by inviting international firms, we can bring the capital cost down.”