Final Report Summary - FUSETRA (Future seaplane traffic - transport technologies for the future)
The FUSETRA project was initiated because of the aerial traffic forecast of more than 5 % growth per year, the limitations in increasing airport capacities and in building new airports and the huge areas of shorelines on seas, lakes and rivers in Europe. The investigation was made by an interdisciplinary and international team from seaplane operators, aircraft manufacturers and aeronautical institutes of universities. Data and information of status quo of worldwide seaplane traffic were collected by internet recherché, a worldwide survey of stakeholders and by three organised workshops in various regions in Europe.
Four main areas of deficiencies were detected and concepts for improvements were elaborated:
Permission and certification
A seaplane operates in two different environments - water and air. Registration, certification and permissions for opening an airline or seaport or landing field include a number of different administrations (aviation, naval, local, police authorities). There are no international rules or standards. Mostly the administrations are not familiar with seaplane operation. These facts cause a lengthy permission process with time and money losses to operators. A roadmap for improving the situation was elaborated. As a first step, EASA offered to form an interdisciplinary working group for including seaplane specifics into the new aviation Ops.
Availability of trained staff
Because of the poor seaplane traffic in Europe experienced pilots have to be hired from other continents (preferable from North America). For these pilots, work visas and license validations are required; an expensive and time consuming process. Additionally there is a lack of qualified examiners for seaplanes in Europe. This problem is also addressed in the roadmap for regulatory issues.
Aircraft and infrastructure
The existing seaplane commuter airplanes were designed 30 to 50 years ago and are not in a status of modern cost, emission and performance effective aircrafts. Salt water corrosion and spare part problems lead to unplanned inspections and groundings. New concepts for modifying existing modern aircrafts to seaplanes and for a new boat-plane were elaborated and technical and mission requirements including cost considerations were defined. Infrastructure equipment as pontoons for passenger handling and aircraft mooring are not standardized and off-the-shelf available. Various concepts for modern seaports are introduced including investigations about environmental impacts.
Market and profitability
Profitability was identified as main critical issue for airlines/operators and aircraft manufacturer. Seaplane traffic is not well known in Europe and is not in the focus of travel agencies and airline companies. Therefore a start-up seaplane enterprise has to generate the market by itself including advertisement activities. A seaplane operator with no financial backing of a larger carrier or investors will hardly be able to pre-finance aircrafts, seaports and to open up a new market. A long return-on-investment period is one consequence. Furthermore, the ticket pricing depends on local price levels and competitions of other modes of transport. Depending on the location a seaplane operator has to compete with low-cost carriers, public transport and ferries. A price investigation shows that the seaplane ticket shall not exceed a factor of 8 to 10 to a ferry or public transport ticket.
FUSETRA has elaborated a set of information, analysis and requirements for renewing seaplane operation in Europe. In a theoretical investigation about possible seaport locations, a huge number of potential locations were found. For regional locations with no ideal transport connection, sea parks will support the accessibility and mobility of the population and will improve the satisfaction of customers. Additionally, sea parks will create work places and by improving the infrastructure sea parks will give those regions a better chance for regional economic development, too. Not only industrial development areas but also touristic areas can benefit from new seaplane traffic. The market demand in the touristic branch is changing in such a way that people booking more short vacations but quite often. Here quick and direct traffic connections to touristic places on islands, lake areas and shores are required. Seaplane operation can offer this traffic connection. Harbour Air Malta already offers such flights with success and intends to widen the operation to other places. FUSETRA has also investigated the existing seaplanes. The result was that there is a need for modern, cost and environmental effective new aircrafts with a range of up to 1000 km. Manufacture industry and the whole logistic chain will benefit from a new development. Additionally, it is expected that the elaborated aircraft and infrastructure specification will mobilise the aviation community for more intensive research and development activities (economic benefits for Europe as a whole).
With the recommendation to develop multi-purpose aircrafts additional positive impact can be achieved in other aeronautical applications. As seaplane / amphibian aircraft are highly suited for fire fighting and low altitude surveillance they will contribute to the solution of problems inside the European Commission (EC) resulting from a rising number of wildfires (e.g. Greece, Portugal) and illegal immigration acts (e.g. Italy, Spain). The above mentioned safety and security task is not only needed in the Mediterranean but also in other European seas (e.g. Northern Sea, Baltic Sea). Search and rescue was a main task of seaplanes in the last century; seaplanes are ideal for all kind of search and rescue task in a maritime environment including technical support for damaged ships. Seaplanes have a longer range and are cheaper in operation in comparison to helicopters.
FUSETRA results have a direct impact to the strategy for future regulatory issues. The regulation process needs an interdisciplinary co-operation between sea and air, between local and EC authorities. The elaborated road map shall trigger necessary adaptations of existing rules or initiate a launching process for new rules. The undertaking of EASA to form an interdisciplinary team for improving the European operational aviation rules in regard to seaplane operation is a first step. More integration and cooperation between the different administrations are necessary with the objective to minimise the steps for permissions. Beside that a stronger national and / or international political and financial support is needed. Part of the support could also be the cooperation with an international / national carrier with code sharing and monetary bonds.
Four main areas of deficiencies were detected and concepts for improvements were elaborated:
Permission and certification
A seaplane operates in two different environments - water and air. Registration, certification and permissions for opening an airline or seaport or landing field include a number of different administrations (aviation, naval, local, police authorities). There are no international rules or standards. Mostly the administrations are not familiar with seaplane operation. These facts cause a lengthy permission process with time and money losses to operators. A roadmap for improving the situation was elaborated. As a first step, EASA offered to form an interdisciplinary working group for including seaplane specifics into the new aviation Ops.
Availability of trained staff
Because of the poor seaplane traffic in Europe experienced pilots have to be hired from other continents (preferable from North America). For these pilots, work visas and license validations are required; an expensive and time consuming process. Additionally there is a lack of qualified examiners for seaplanes in Europe. This problem is also addressed in the roadmap for regulatory issues.
Aircraft and infrastructure
The existing seaplane commuter airplanes were designed 30 to 50 years ago and are not in a status of modern cost, emission and performance effective aircrafts. Salt water corrosion and spare part problems lead to unplanned inspections and groundings. New concepts for modifying existing modern aircrafts to seaplanes and for a new boat-plane were elaborated and technical and mission requirements including cost considerations were defined. Infrastructure equipment as pontoons for passenger handling and aircraft mooring are not standardized and off-the-shelf available. Various concepts for modern seaports are introduced including investigations about environmental impacts.
Market and profitability
Profitability was identified as main critical issue for airlines/operators and aircraft manufacturer. Seaplane traffic is not well known in Europe and is not in the focus of travel agencies and airline companies. Therefore a start-up seaplane enterprise has to generate the market by itself including advertisement activities. A seaplane operator with no financial backing of a larger carrier or investors will hardly be able to pre-finance aircrafts, seaports and to open up a new market. A long return-on-investment period is one consequence. Furthermore, the ticket pricing depends on local price levels and competitions of other modes of transport. Depending on the location a seaplane operator has to compete with low-cost carriers, public transport and ferries. A price investigation shows that the seaplane ticket shall not exceed a factor of 8 to 10 to a ferry or public transport ticket.
FUSETRA has elaborated a set of information, analysis and requirements for renewing seaplane operation in Europe. In a theoretical investigation about possible seaport locations, a huge number of potential locations were found. For regional locations with no ideal transport connection, sea parks will support the accessibility and mobility of the population and will improve the satisfaction of customers. Additionally, sea parks will create work places and by improving the infrastructure sea parks will give those regions a better chance for regional economic development, too. Not only industrial development areas but also touristic areas can benefit from new seaplane traffic. The market demand in the touristic branch is changing in such a way that people booking more short vacations but quite often. Here quick and direct traffic connections to touristic places on islands, lake areas and shores are required. Seaplane operation can offer this traffic connection. Harbour Air Malta already offers such flights with success and intends to widen the operation to other places. FUSETRA has also investigated the existing seaplanes. The result was that there is a need for modern, cost and environmental effective new aircrafts with a range of up to 1000 km. Manufacture industry and the whole logistic chain will benefit from a new development. Additionally, it is expected that the elaborated aircraft and infrastructure specification will mobilise the aviation community for more intensive research and development activities (economic benefits for Europe as a whole).
With the recommendation to develop multi-purpose aircrafts additional positive impact can be achieved in other aeronautical applications. As seaplane / amphibian aircraft are highly suited for fire fighting and low altitude surveillance they will contribute to the solution of problems inside the European Commission (EC) resulting from a rising number of wildfires (e.g. Greece, Portugal) and illegal immigration acts (e.g. Italy, Spain). The above mentioned safety and security task is not only needed in the Mediterranean but also in other European seas (e.g. Northern Sea, Baltic Sea). Search and rescue was a main task of seaplanes in the last century; seaplanes are ideal for all kind of search and rescue task in a maritime environment including technical support for damaged ships. Seaplanes have a longer range and are cheaper in operation in comparison to helicopters.
FUSETRA results have a direct impact to the strategy for future regulatory issues. The regulation process needs an interdisciplinary co-operation between sea and air, between local and EC authorities. The elaborated road map shall trigger necessary adaptations of existing rules or initiate a launching process for new rules. The undertaking of EASA to form an interdisciplinary team for improving the European operational aviation rules in regard to seaplane operation is a first step. More integration and cooperation between the different administrations are necessary with the objective to minimise the steps for permissions. Beside that a stronger national and / or international political and financial support is needed. Part of the support could also be the cooperation with an international / national carrier with code sharing and monetary bonds.
