Sixty years after the advent of the jet age, aviation is looking back to the future, as the needs of niche companies and infrastructure gaps pave the way for a revival of seaplane production.
Seaplanes were prominent around the world in the first half of the 20th century and are an important feature of Australian aviation history. The country’s first international airport, Sydney’s Rose Bay, opened in 1938 and served as a base for flights to Europe.
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Qantas’s first passenger services to the UK, operated in partnership with Imperial Airways, departed from Rose Bay Airport and arrived in Southampton 10 days and 35 fuel stops later – much faster than the 40-plus day journey by ship at the time . The frequent ‘hopping’ along the route earned it the nickname ‘kangaroo route’, which continued to be used for flights between Australia and London.
Qantas operated flying boats on the route, a separate category from larger seaplanes where the hull serves as a ship’s hull when in the water, as opposed to the often smaller floatplanes whose floats are mounted beneath the hull, keeping it above water while to land.
The Qantas Empire aircraft – as the joint venture was known – were exclusively first class and carried up to fourteen passengers who could enjoy a promenade cabin, galley, wine cellar and social areas.
World War II marked a major turning point in commercial aviation, bringing the glamorous era of flying boat travel largely to a halt. The war caused a massive increase in the number of runways built around the world for military aircraft.
By the end of the war, runways existed in most destinations and propeller and jet engine technology had advanced. Seaplanes – which were slower, less direct, more sensitive to bad weather and less fuel efficient – struggled to remain competitive.
“People thought seaplanes were no longer necessary and that was probably true at the time,” says Dan Webster, CEO of Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI).
Webster’s Darwin-based company is among a handful of manufacturers looking to revive seaplane production for a new era in aviation.
There are several startups – including plans for zero-emission ‘sea gliders’ and electric variants of seaplanes for delivery in Norway – as well as existing manufacturers working on different types of seaplanes. AAI is reviving the Albatross G111T, a flying boat first flown by the US Air Force and Navy in the late 1940s.
As an amphibious aircraft, it can take off on water and land on a runway, and vice versa.
More than 400 were built by the American manufacturer Grumman, but the aircraft have been out of production for 60 years.
Originally an aircraft with radial engines, the new generation will have turboprop engines. Some Albatross owners have retrofitted turboprop engines, but only on an individual basis. No single company can do this en masse as AAI now owns the certificate to produce the aircraft.
The 19-meter fuselage can accommodate up to 28 passengers and crew, or can be equipped to carry cargo or as a medical aircraft when the first of the new generation of Albatrosses rolls off the production line in about four years.
Wave of new technology
Aviation is in the grip of “a dynamic and disruptive phase”, according to Prof Tim Ryley, head of aviation at Griffith University.
Commercial airlines are pinning their hopes on sustainable aviation fuel and more efficient aircraft from manufacturers as ways to meet looming emissions reduction targets and save on their fuel bills.
Electric aviation is still in its infancy. The technology initially appears most feasible for smaller aircraft used for short-haul regional services.
In Australia, Rex Airlines is grappling with how to replace the aging fleet of Saab 340 aircraft it depends on for regional flights as they are no longer in production. It has a partnership with electric aircraft startup Dovetail and hopes to conduct test flights soon.
Elsewhere, small electric aircraft are being explored for mail transport in New Zealand.
In another nod to aviation’s past, nearly nine decades after the Hindenburg disaster, a global race is underway to build and fly airships, both for passengers and to transport cargo to hard-to-reach locations.
Interest in seaplanes waned over the course of the 20th century, but they never completely disappeared, especially in port cities.
Ryley notes that Air in Vancouver Harbor operates scheduled services around the city and Victoria Harbor using smaller gliders.
“It’s in high demand, short trips and it’s commercially viable,” says Ryley, adding that customers for tourist-oriented seaplane services can expect more because the planes are not in constant use to maximize returns as they operate in scheduled services.
In Sydney, seaplanes still operate from Rose Bay, flying mainly on tourist flights to places like Palm Beach.
This convenience factor is a big part of the revival of interest and race to bring new seaplanes to market, Webster says.
Operators of resorts on remote islands, who struggle to convince “weekend travelers” to lose nearly a day traveling on multiple planes and boats to reach them, are one such niche market crying out for an amphibious aircraft, says Webster .
“For those who run island resorts, our planes can fly from an international airport and land right on the water at their resort, opening up a short-stay market that wouldn’t be possible.
“As the world has grown and islands around the Pacific Ocean and north of Darwin have been developed, the equation for seaplanes has changed again.”
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Webster says the planes could also be used to provide medical care to hard-to-reach areas north of Darwin, including several Indigenous communities. “It opens up a whole new range of possibilities for treatment centers for casualty evacuation – we can land on the water and pull up to a boat ramp to park,” he says.
“Imagine doing a milk run around the Whitsundays, or to islands in Indonesia where most are served by very slow ferries or helicopters. This is a game changer.
“There are also people in New York who look at these kinds of things and want to fly them from the Hudson [River] because it is so difficult to get to an airport.”
Webster says flying boats are cost-effective compared to helicopters, which are more expensive and complicated to use.
“The niche we are filling is where there is water on one side. If there is no water on one side, we are probably not the right aircraft,” he says.
Ryley also believes seaplanes could find a renewed business case amid the current upheavals in aviation innovation.
“The economics and pricing depend a lot on what the alternatives are,” he says. “Mainly due to the pressure on space for modern airports and the need for good road links at both ends,” says Ryley.
AAI already has several firm orders for aircraft, Webster said. One order has been reported to be worth $20 million, although Webster could not confirm the price.
“There is a lot of interest and it is constantly growing. When we started, a lot of people looked at us like we had two heads, but now they’re much more interested,” says Webster.