US’s Mesa Airlines orders 200 Regent seagliders
Mesa Airlines (YV, Phoenix Sky Harbor) plans to purchase 200 all-electric Regent Craft seagliders to establish new direct city-to-city coastal routes.
In a statement, Mesa Holdings Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein said the seagliders – a new type of wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vehicle that uses hydrofoils and distributed propulsion systems – would supplement capacity on the regional carrier’s existing routes and facilitate new city-centre to city-centre direct routes.
“We look forward to being an early operator of Regent’s 12-passenger Viceroy seagliders and to using our operational learnings to inform Regent’s design of their higher capacity Monarch seagliders thereafter,” he said.
Along with their order, Mesa Airlines has made an undisclosed investment in Regent. “We are thrilled to invest in Regent and support the development of seagliders. As we approach the anticipated 2025 entry of service of the seagliders, we see a clear value-add for our operations. Investing was a logical next step to deepen our relationship with Regent,” Ornstein said.
Mesa Airlines’ investment aligns with the carrier’s drive towards electrification and de-carbonization. Last month, it announced an order for 150 autonomous hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) Chaparral aircraft being developed by San Francisco-based Elroy Air. In partnership with United Airlines, it has also already announced an investment in Swedish electric aircraft company Heart Aerospace for 100 19-seater ES-19 aircraft.
Mesa Airlines’ latest announcement follows that of Southern Airways Express (9X, Memphis Int’l), which is also targeting late 2025 for the introduction on US East Coast routes of 20 Regent Craft Seagliders.
Meanwhile, Regent announced it had raised another USD18 million from various strategic investors to accelerate the development of its full scale, 12-passenger prototype seaglider. Apart from Mesa Airlines, other participants in the second funding round include lead investors Thiel Capital and JAM Fund, plus Toba Capital and Olive Tree Capital.
Regent has now raised more than USD27million of capital over two financing rounds, the first round of USD9million previously announced in April 2021.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Mesa Airlines operates a mixed fleet of 150 aircraft under the American Eagle and United Express Airlines brands for American Airlines and United Airlines respectively.
The airline posted a USD14.3 million loss for the first quarter of 2022, on a USD14.1 million loss reported in the first quarter of 2021. It blamed the result on the impact of COVID-19.