US start-up Tidal Flight has revealed plans to develop a hybrid-electric amphibious commuter aircraft and secured a tentative purchase commitment from Florida’s Tropic Ocean Airways.
Based in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Tidal Flight was founded in 2023 but became known in late 2024. It is developing Polaris, a passenger aircraft with capacity for 9-12 people designed to operate from water or ground-based runways.
Tidal is among several firms working to bring clean-sheet seaborne aircraft to market in a bid to meet what their executives describe as vast untapped opportunity.
“Seaplanes present the opportunity to provide direct, low-infrastructure access to city centres, remote communities and coast destinations,” says Tidal co-founder and chief executive Jude Augustine.
Tidal on 11 February revealed details about its Polaris project at the Future Opportunities for Seaplanes and Amphibious Aviation conference in Miami.
The company expects to complete Polaris’ first flight in 2027 and to receive a type certification in 2029, allowing passenger flights to start in 2030, says Augustine. “We think it’s a reasonable goal.”
At the Miami event, Ft Lauderdale-based Tropic Ocean Airways, which flies Cessna Caravan seaplanes in the Northeast USA, Florida and throughout the Bahamas, said it signed a letter of intent to purchase 20 Polaris aircraft. Tropic Ocean’s fleet now includes nine Cessna 208B Grand Caravan seaplanes, according to data analytics company Cirium.
“We want to be a leader in sustainable aircraft and in the adoption of next-generation technology, and this agreement with Tidal helps us do that,” says Tropic Ocean founder and chief executive Rob Ceravolo.
The clean-sheet Polaris’s propulsion system will be composed of a fuel-burning engine, generator and battery system that will provide “low fuel needs while delivering high payload-range performance”, Tidal says. It will have twin “low-tip-speed propellers” mounted to a V-tail, retractable wingtip floats, a composite fuselage, an 18m (59ft) wingspan and maximum take-off weight of 5,670kg (12,500lb).
Polaris will cruise at 162kt (300km/h) and at 7,000ft altitude, and have 1,034nm (1,915km) of range with 1,000kg of payload, says the company.
The aircraft will burn 85% less fuel than types flying similar routes and will require less corrosion-related maintenance, Tidal says. It adds that eight customers have signed letters of intent to acquire Polaris.
Augustine is among three aerospace engineers to found Tidal in 2023, the others being Pranav Krishnamurthy and Mark Lau.
Competitors in the space include Rhode Island-based Regent Craft, which is developing an all-electric 12-passenger wing-in-ground-effect vehicle called Viceroy, and Norway’s Elfly Group, which is developing a nine-passenger all-electric seaplane.