Thiel Capital, Mesa Air put money into electrical seaglider startup Regent

Thiel Capital and regional aviation suppliers Mesa Air Group are investing in Regent, a start-up constructing electrical seagliders that may fly low over the water at a prime velocity of 180 miles per hour.

Fairly than taking off from a runway at an airport, Regent’s 12-passenger seagliders motor out of a harbor on a hydrofoil, and and may take off at a low velocity as a consequence of their fixed-wing design. The corporate desires to make journeys between coastal cities quick, secure, and inexpensive with the smallest potential environmental footprint, says CEO and co-founder Billy Thalheimer. (The startup’s identify is an acronym for Regional Electrical Floor Impact Naval Transport.)

Regent’s seagliders must also have the ability to fly to islands and coastal hubs the place airports are insufficient, non-existent, or when infrastructure has taken successful as a consequence of a pure catastrophe. As a result of they’ll fly low below a fog line, in contrast to helicopters, the corporate is creating prototypes with an inside match for emergency medical transportation with capability to carry gear, and sufferers on stretchers, safely in place.

Mesa Air Group CEO Jonathan Ornstein advised CNBC that along with investing a small quantity in Regent’s $18 million enterprise funding spherical, co-led by Thiel Capital and JAM Fund, his firm plans to buy 200 of its fast-flying seagliders.

When it is ready to put them into use, Mesa will complement routes already served by its plane, and set up new city-to-city direct routes on the coasts, Ornstein mentioned.

As a result of Regent’s electrical seagliders are technically categorized as Wing in Floor Impact craft, or WIGs, they’re regulated by the U.S. Coast Guard moderately than the Federal Aviation Administration. That will additionally assist Mesa Airways address a pilot scarcity.

“There’s a very important pilot scarcity at this time after authorities rules put in place a couple of years again are coming residence to roost. The 1,500-hour requirement has crippled the business,” Ornstein notes. Legal guidelines within the U.S. require airline pilots to have 1,500 hours of flight time to work at a industrial airline, however there are exceptions for some college students and army — and WIGs have a special set of necessities. 

Thalheimer says the startup will probably be utilizing its new capital infusion to construct and check prototypes out on the water in Tampa, Florida, later this yr. The corporate, which has about 20 full-time workers at this time and extra on contract, will even use the funding for hiring.