WSJ News Exclusive | Hawaiian Airlines Bets You’ll Want to Island Hop on Electric Seagliders

Flying between the Hawaiian islands is a major source of business for Hawaiian, accounting for roughly 20% of its passenger revenue in 2019, the year before the pandemic. The distances are short but traffic volumes are high—more than half of the seats Hawaiian flew in 2019 were along inter-island routes.

While Hawaiian hasn’t placed an order for the aircraft, the airline said its investment will give it a role in the design of the 100-seat seaglider, which Regent said it hopes could enter commercial service by 2028.

Hawaiian’s move comes as airlines face pressure from customers and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Carriers are increasingly exploring nascent technologies, investing in and ordering new aircraft still being developed in hopes that something takes off.

The challenge is there are few good replacements for jet fuel. Big airplanes that fly long distances and carry lots of passengers require more energy than can be provided by current battery technology.

Regent’s seagliders will be what are known as “wing-in-ground effect” vehicles—flying no higher than the length of the glider’s wingspan above the water. That reduces drag and increases lift, allowing the seagliders to carry larger numbers of passengers, the company said.

This way of flying helps extend the seagliders’ range beyond what some other types of electric aircraft currently being developed can manage, Regent co-founder and Chief Executive Billy Thalheimer said. Regent’s planned seagliders would be able to travel a range of 180 miles port-to-port, and can fly at a speed of 180 miles an hour using existing battery technology.

Since the seagliders don’t take off from airport runways, Hawaiian hopes it could use them to fly between harbors and other infrastructure, expanding the market for island hopping, said

Avi Mannis,

Hawaiian’s chief marketing and communications officer.

“The technology may fill an important niche,” Mr. Mannis said.

The seagliders would float like boats while in the harbor and then rise up on hydrofoils, devices that lift boats above the water and allow them to accelerate fast enough to lift off the water.

Mr. Thalheimer said the hydrofoils offer “wave tolerance” that will make for a smooth ride as the seagliders pull into the open water at 20 to 50 miles an hour before lifting off. Digital flight control systems will react to gusts and keep the vessel above the notoriously rough seas between the islands, he said.

Other operators see seaplane service as a solution for crowded coastal markets, but the existing aircraft are generally much smaller. Tailwind Air LLC has launched scheduled seaplane flights between New York and Boston and other nearby destinations using Cessna Caravan EX amphibian seaplanes, with space for eight passengers.

Regent said it has raised a total of $27 million, including $18 million earlier this year from a consortium of investors including Thiel Capital and

Mesa Air Group Inc.,

MESA -0.90%

a regional carrier that also agreed to purchase 200 of a smaller 12-passenger seaglider that Regent hopes will enter commercial service in 2025.

Southern Airways Express, a commuter airline, late last year agreed to buy 20 seagliders in a deal the companies said was valued at $250 million. Most of Southern Airways’ order was for the smaller model, and the airline said it would initially focus seaglider service on markets in New York, New England and the Southeast.

Write to Alison Sider at [email protected]