Abu Dhabi's flying ferries to create more than 1,000 high-tech jobs

$250 million joint venture with US electric seaglider developer Regent could cut Abu Dhabi-to-Dubai travel time in half

Electric seaglider developer Regent expects its plans to manufacture the flying ferry in the UAE to create more than 1,000 high-tech jobs in Abu Dhabi over the next decade, providing new opportunities and training for Emiratis. The use of seagliders is set to slash travel times from Abu Dhabi to Dubai by half.

The Rhode Island-based start-up's joint venture with Abu Dhabi's Strategic Development Fund (SDF), an investment company wholly owned by defence and technology conglomerate Edge Group, will hire for roles in engineering, advanced manufacturing, maintenance, training and support crew, Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and chief executive of Regent, told The National.

“Bringing these jobs not only means we're employing people today, but it means we're setting up a full training pipeline and we're engaging with local universities. There's really going to be a local focus to this,” Mr Thalheimer said.

“In order for this to be sustainable … we do need to train and leverage that local footprint, so there's also a significant portion of Emiratisation built into the recruiting and training plan … We're talking about less than a half.”

The capital size of the project is a “minimum” of $250 million over the next 10 years, which both Regent and SDF will contribute to, Mr Thalheimer said.

“It's going to be a combination of equity and debt that will cover head count, research and development, the [production] facility and the build of the vehicles themselves. The $250 million is an all-in number, so it's a really significant project,” he said.

The initial investment of $250 million may increase amid plans to expand the project after establishing a base for high-tech and electrification manufacturing and maintenance that can meet commercial demand in the Middle East, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“We've said that when we're successful, not if we're successful, how do we make this even bigger? How do we add more facilities? How do we make this centre of excellence really scale across the entire Eastern hemisphere?” Mr Thalheimer said. “About 40 per cent of the world's population lives in coastal communities, so we have this incredible backlog of $9 billion and the majority of commercial demand is in the Eastern hemisphere, which this joint venture would target to serve.”

Regent entered into a joint venture agreement with Strategic Development Fund to manufacture its electric seagliders in Abu Dhabi for local customers and export to the Middle East, Africa and beyond. Photo: Regent

First on-water tests

On March 6, Regent unveiled its full-scale crewed seaglider and completed the first on-water tests at Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, marking the successful technical validation of the maritime vessel with humans on board. The company showcased the 12-passenger Viceroy seaglider prototype, which measured 55-ft long and a 65-ft wingspan, that can travel at up to 289kph to serve routes of up to 289km on a single charge.

Regent's test captains completed the first in a series of on-water tests that will culminate in the first human seaglider flight midyear, the company said.

On February 26, Regent and SDF signed an initial agreement to bring manufacturing and aftermarket services for advanced electric seaglider to the UAE, pending closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

SDF initially invested in Regent in 2023 and increased its stake last year, with plans for further investments when the partnership is established, Regent said.

Regent has raised more than $90 million from investors including venture fund 8090 Industries, Japan Airlines, and Lockheed Martin.

Abu Dhabi has been working on providing residents with smarter, more efficient modes of transport. A seaglider ride from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, for example, will take just 30 minutes, cutting the travel time by half, and cost under $50, compared to almost $1,000 by helicopter, according to Regent.

The joint venture comes as Abu Dhabi seeks to diversify its economy from oil, develop its local manufacturing sector, invest in advanced technologies and sign smart mobility deals to ease road congestion sustainably.

On March 6, Regent unveiled its full-scale crewed seaglider and completed the first on-water tests, marking the successful technical validation of the maritime vessel with humans on board. Photo: Regent

More customers in the pipeline

“This will be Regent's first manufacturing site, the first centre of excellence, outside the US. It's really Regent's international headquarters and we're putting a lot into it,” Mr Thalheimer said.

The joint venture partners are assessing some potential sites for the production facility in Abu Dhabi.

“One of the first things the JV does is consider site selection and it also may be multi-site, we may put manufacturing in one place and training in another place. Part of that may also depend on some of our customers,” he said.

Regent is preparing for an announcement of new local customers, but it has already signed deals with Abu Dhabi's Department of Municipalities and Transportation (DOT) to integrate seagliders into the existing UAE transportation network and with Abu Dhabi Maritime to explore the feasibility of using electric seagliders on Abu Dhabi waterways. Aramex, the Middle East's biggest courier company, is also assess the feasibility of integrating Regent's high-speed seagliders into its existing logistics network.

Seagliders are expected to enter service in the UAE by 2027, as part of the DOT's fleet, according to Regent.

Regent 2.0

Regent will capitalise on the UAE's geographic position to export its seagliders to customers in the Middle East, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Mr Thalheimer said.

With a backlog of $9 billion in orders from customers in six continents, it made sense to select the Middle East as the location for “Regent 2.0" to expand its global footprint, he said.

The company selected the UAE for its first international production site given the country's proximity to its international customers, deals with local customers, backing from investors such as SDF and support from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio), he added.

The joint venture will be an “Eastern hemisphere centre of excellence, geographically proximal and a sort of hub for half the planet, where customers around the world will get their seagliders from and will send their crew to go train,” he said.

Localising the supply chain

Asked how Regent will deal with a global shortage in high-skilled maritime workers when it starts UAE operations, Mr Thalheimer said the company will initially attract global talent to Abu Dhabi even as it begins the training process for the local workforce.

“We think of it as a crawl, walk, run process where we're leveraging existing capabilities and potentially even partners,” he said, after Regent's team toured the centres of Edge's advanced aerospace manufacturing, plane-parts maker Strata and Premier Composite Technologies.

“There is some pockets of great manufacturing expertise here. So we can learn how they did it and leverage some of that skill-set,” he said.

“Of course, we will have to import some talent as we get going, and then we have a long-term plan to increase training, increase Emiratisation and develop curriculum with local educators so that this talent is available in our backyard.”

The joint venture has to be “education and training-heavy” because electrification in aerospace and maritime sectors is “still nascent,” he added.

“Regardless of where we were, even if we were in a global hub with established manufacturing, we'd have to do a lot of training anyway because we're talking about a scale of manufacturing that we just don't see today.”

The joint venture is also focused on localising the supply chain in the long-term by manufacturing components in the UAE.

“I would very much expect by the end of the first decade that we're doing composites and deeper component supply chain in-house,” he said.

Regent is also looking at UAE suppliers for locally-sourced components for some of its first US-built seagliders, he added.