Swiss electric seaplane maker Jekta made its debut in Abu Dhabi last week as it unveiled the design of an all-electric 19-seater commuter seaplane aimed at transporting people in mega-cities and coastal areas more sustainably and affordably.
The amphibious aircraft PHA-ZE 100, short for Passenger Hydro Aircraft Zero Emissions, is at the design stage, with a prototype scheduled for 2026 before entry into market by 2028, George Alafinov, chief executive of Jekta, told The National.
An amphibious aircraft is one that can take off and land on both solid ground and water.
The start-up is taking advantage of improving battery technology to help transport a growing world population with an appetite to travel safely, cheaply and ecologically.
"The solution is in front of us: instead of building airports with devastating irreversible environmental impact, we can use nature's gift of oceans, lakes and rivers to create an affordable transport system using amphibian aviation," Mr Alafinov said while introducing the PHA-ZE 100.
"Today's seaplane market offers outdated solutions that are heavy on emissions, uncomfortable and extremely costly."
Global transport emissions rose by less than 0.5 per cent in 2019, down from 1.9 per cent since 2000, owing to efficiency improvements, electrification and greater use of biofuels, according to the International Energy Agency.
Still, transportation is responsible for 24 per cent of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, the Paris-based agency found.
Amid growing public awareness and improving electrification technology and infrastructure, Jekta introduced its amphibious passenger aircraft as an alternative to older, noisier and environmentally-damaging models.
Construction of a factory to build the PHA-ZE 100 will start next year at the Swiss Aerospace Cluster in Payerne Airport, located approximately halfway between Lausanne and Bern, Mr Alafinov said.
The Jekta's electric seaplane project will cost €280 million ($279m), including the high-tech and eco-friendly manufacturing facility, he said.
The factory will feature solar panels and geothermal walls to produce electricity and robotised warehousing to speed up production.
The battery-powered amphibious aircraft will be made of composite materials including fibre-glass, carbon and Kevlar, according to Mr Alafinov.
The aircraft model showcased at the Abu Dhabi Air Expo detailed a high-wing layout with 10 electric engines and batteries located in compartments beneath the wing. Mr Alafinov, however, declined to name the electric engine-maker.
The batteries can be quickly changed or recharged within 45 minutes and the aircraft can also be retrofitted with fuel cells, once the technology becomes available, Jekta said.
The seaplane has a 150-kilometre range at a cruising speed of 135 knots, but the design will "future proof" it for a maximum range of 600km to 800km, Mr Alafinov said. The interior will reflect the extended range with the design including plans for a bathroom and a kitchen.
The amphibious aircraft can be executed in passenger, cargo, business and ambulance configurations.
When asked about the jet's pricing, Mr Alafinov said it was "too early" in the seaplane's development to set its selling price.
Jekta's potential markets for its electric seaplane include India, Indonesia and the Philippines in South-East Asia, Brazil in South America and countries in the Oceania region, Mr Alafinov said.
"There's an increase in wealth in South-East Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa, but there's a lack of infrastructure. There's two ways to approach it: either you build infrastructure with huge environmental impact and costs or you use what is already available," he said.
"In current amphibian aviation, there are very disgustingly polluting machines, they pollute with oil, petrol and noise pollution that disturbs nature ... once you move to electrification, you get rid of all of this."
The two-year old start-up has already garnered interest at the Abu Dhabi Air Expo.
Jekta has held discussions with two customers willing to sign letters of intent for the PHA-ZE 100, including an Abu Dhabi-based commercial leasing company and a European seaplane tour operator, Mr Alafinov said, without disclosing further details.
Airlines from Norway, where the government has recently pledged to cut climate-related emissions to at least 55 per cent by 2030, have also held talks with Jekta, it said.
To fund its project, Jekta seeks to first attract private investors, Mr Alafinov said, declining to say how much the start-up is seeking to raise.
After securing 60 per cent of the required funds from private investors, Jekta has agreements in place with European financial institutions to back the project, he added.
In terms of the certification process, Jekta is working with Swiss regulators and the EU's Aviation Safety Agency in parallel with developing the electric seaplane's design, he said.
One of the main challenges in future will be the pressure on the world's electric system, from the use of electrical cars, planes and ferries, Mr Alafinov said.
"The real issue is the physical network of electricity, that is the biggest challenge for the electrification of everything, so countries will need to re-wire all the electrical systems for higher capacity cables," he said.
While developed countries have the financial capability for such an undertaking, it may be a relatively easier task for developing countries who do not have to grapple with older electrical systems, Mr Alafinov said.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Uefa Nations League
League A:
Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia, Netherlands
League B:
Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey
League C:
Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Norway, Montenegro, Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania
League D:
Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: McLaren 600LT
Price, base: Dh914,000
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 620Nm @ 5,500rpm
Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
