Several start-ups developing a new generation of seaplanes see immense market opportunity and insist their designs have a clear certification path.
But the niche and emerging sector – which includes players developing electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-powered seaplanes – also faces funding challenges, partly because investors are weary of aviation projects after dumping billions of dollars into now-struggling electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developers.
“The eVTOL business has burned a lot of people’s money,” says Eric Lithun, chief executive of Norwegian start-up Elfly Group, which is developing Noemi, an all-electric nine-passenger seaplane. “I am an investor in this space, because this is where you get the lowest risk to certify.”
Investors poured money into eVTOL developers in recent years despite “unclear” market opportunities, competition from helicopters and uncertain eVTOL certification and operating regulations, says George Alafinov, chief executive of Swiss company Jekta, which is developing a 19-passenger hydrogen-electric amphibious aircraft called Pha-ze 100.
“Everyone started rushing money into [electric air taxis] for the fear of missing out… It is like they are looking for a black cat in a dark room,” adds Alafinov. As a result, “we’re going to see less [investment] appetite for aviation in general”.
Lithun and Alafinov were among several executives from seaplane developers attending the Future Opportunities for Seaplanes and Amphibious Aviation conference this week in Miami.
They insist the seaplane market is ripe for modernisation, that their designs face less certification uncertainty than eVTOLs, and that new-generation seaplanes can tap a proven market and let operators expand to hundreds of new routes.
By contrast, air taxi developers seek to create a new Uber-of-the-sky market, bringing high-frequency, low-cost, short-distance air travel to the masses. Several companies insist they are close to certification, though regulatory approvals remain uncertain.
Detractors – including seaplane executives and some aerospace analysts – think air taxi acquisition and operating costs will make the Uber-like vision impossible; that only wealthy people will be able to afford air taxis, if models actually clear certification.
Cracks have recently surfaced as some eVTOL developers have failed or are struggling financially amid the immense cost and difficulty of certification. Nearly all air taxi projects are also delayed – as are, in fairness, most other aircraft development programmes.
The seaplane and floatplane segment now includes decades-old designs: Cessna 208B Caravans, De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otters, DHC-6 Twin Otters and even mid-century DHC-2 Beavers.
Like eVTOL developers, the seaplane newbies face certification and technological hurdles – and need for investment. But they insist they have a path to certification under existing regulations.
“The regulations for design are there. The regulations for operations are there,” says Jekta’s Alafinov. “The market is there, and the capital needs to see that… We’re also talking about enormous opportunities in expanding this market.”
“It is absolutely certifiable today… It’s completely doable,” Lithun adds of Elfly’s Noemi.
Opportunities aside, the seaplane segment has struggled to attract investment. Operators also face hurdles expanding to new regions.
“Financing is difficult to come by, and it is quite limited,” says Timothy Eyre, chief operating officer of London-based aircraft financing company Monte. “[In] the jurisdictions where seaplanes operate… there’s not the traditional sources of capital and financing that you might find in the United States or in Canada.”
Such regions include places like the Maldives, Indonesia, Venezuela and Nigeria.
Many countries lack necessary seaplane regulations, or their regulators are unfamiliar with seaplane operations, says John Goulet, president of consulting firm Goulet Aviation Services.
“The governments, in general, in the Caribbean will not allow seaplane operations… no matter how hard we try,” adds Robbie Peres of Miami seaplane insurance firm Southeast Insurance. “That’s probably the most needy place in the world.”
Some governments look suspiciously at seaplanes owing to a chequered past, says Peres. “Seaplanes were used for drugs.”
Challenges aside, seaplane start-ups are working to get their products to market within about five years.
Elfly is “aiming for first flight in 2027, and that is super hard”, says Lithun. Achieving that goal would put the Noemi aircraft on track for 2030 service entry. The company recently landed Susan Ying, a former Boeing and Ampaire employee, as an investor and board member, and Denmark’s Nordic Seaplanes signed an agreement to acquire five Noemis.
Lithun calls the aircraft “a very classic flying boat”, with a monohull and high-mounted propellers.
Another start-up called Tidal Flight also recently came on the scene, pitching a 9-12-passenger hybrid-electric amphibious commuter aircraft called Polaris. On 11 February, the Virginia firm said it signed a letter of intent to sell 20 Polaris to Tropic Ocean Airways, a Caravan seaplane operator.
Also new is North Carolina-based Anatra, which is developing an autonomous amphibious aircraft for carrying cargo. Another is Mallard Enterprises, which is seeking to create ME-1A, a twin-turboprop seaplane capable of carrying 19 passengers.
“There is this huge opportunity for amphibious aviation. If we fail, that means there is a problem with our design, not that we have misidentified the market, because the market is there,” says Jekta’s Alafinov.
