Regent Viceroy seaglider model at Dubai Airshow 2023

The REGENT Viceroy "seaglider" is a proposed electric-powered wing-in-ground-effect vehicle under development by REGENT Craft Inc. of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, (REGENT is capitalized because it is an acronym, standing for "Regional Electric Ground Effect Nautical Transport"). 12 passengers will be carried on flights of up to over coastal waters, with retractable

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

s used during the take-off run. It is intended to conduct flight trials in 2025 with customer deliveries commencing in 2026 to 2027. A 1/4 scale model was successfully demonstrated in 2022 in

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. S ...

. Announced customers include New Zealand's Ocean Flyer,

Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France, England, Ireland, Spain and the ...

in Europe and US carriers

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona. Mesa operates and maintains a fleet of Embraer E-175 Aircraft that are scheduled, marketed and sold by United Airlines as United Express. ...

Mokulele Airlines Mokulele Airlines is a regional airline operating in Hawaii. The airline operates scheduled inter-island and charter flights, primarily between smaller airports and its hubs at Kahului Airport on the island of Maui and Daniel K. Inouye Interna ...

and Southern Airways Express.

Regulation question

It is unclear whether regulation in United States waters will fall entirely to the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...

, or whether the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

would also be involved – which would require more arduous and expensive certification.

Specification

References

Ground-effect vehicles Electric aircraft {{aero-stub