WingTips Announces Partnership with Tidal Flight for Nationwide Introduction of Polaris Amphibious Aircraft
WingTips, a modern air mobility company delivering the convenience of charter aviation at an affordable price point, and Tidal Flight, a startup building modern aircraft for coastal regional mobility, today announced a partnership to leverage the unique flexibility of Tidal’s Polaris Amphibian aircraft for time savings, direct access, and new destinations throughout WingTips’ growing network. Currently operating across Texas, WingTips is set on national expansion, serving passengers on routes of 100-400 miles across the United States. WingTips’ partnership with Tidal is marked by a Letter of Intent (LOI) between Tidal and WingTips for the introduction of 20 Polaris Amphibian hybrid-electric seaplanes, valued at over $100 million, to WingTips operational network.
WingTips is pioneering the on-demand shared charter model on regional routes, using proprietary software that leverages artificial intelligence to predict demand and allocate aircraft so that on-demand charter flights can be sold by the seat. This delivers the time savings and convenience of charter aviation while enabling several passengers to share the charter cost. “Our objective is to bring modern software to the antiquated charter aviation sector and democratize access to direct and convenient regional air mobility,” said Mike Azzarello, Founder & CEO of WingTips. “Tidal’s aircraft aligns with that goal by slashing operating costs while enabling even more direct access to locations near waterways and servicing communities that may not have an airport nearby.”
Tidal’s Polaris aircraft delivers access to the heart of city centers and communities and avoids dependence on runway infrastructure by taking off and landing from the waterways that communities are built around. Regarding the broad reach of waterways in the United States, Jude Augustine, Co-Founder & CEO of Tidal Flight said, “With 40% of Americans living in coastal areas and an even greater percentage including those living near major rivers and lakes, Polaris will be an integral component of the national mobility network”. In addition, Polaris can use its retractable landing gear to access runways, enabling network flexibility, routes with either a land-based origin or destination, and the usage of maintenance infrastructure at airfields for operators like WingTips with existing land-based operations.
While there are seaplanes providing commercial service today in markets like the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast, and Florida, these aircraft are heavy, draggy, aluminum floatplane airframes that face high operating costs from high fuel burn and corrosion-related maintenance in saltwater environments. These high operating costs can price out demand in new markets. As a modern, composite, hybrid-electric, monohull seaplane, Polaris delivers an 85% reduction in fuel burn and nearly eliminates corrosion-related maintenance, enabling seaplane aviation to scale rapidly into new markets.
Prior to entry-into-service, the collaboration between WingTips and Tidal will involve detailed market studies, operational modeling, and route planning. The combination of WingTips’ proprietary demand modeling, fleet allocation, and operations management software with Tidal’s in-house network modeling, operational simulation, and cost estimation software will enable deep insight into opportunities to grow the reach of seaplane aviation. “We are excited to be leveraging SHADOW, our in-house multidisciplinary modeling software, to understand how aircraft performance drives demand capture and operating economics for WingTips. We look forward to working together and combining our analysis capabilities to maximize Polaris’ impact,” said Mark Lau, Co-Founder & Chief Engineer at Tidal Flight. With both companies taking modern approaches to planning for entry-into-service, this partnership offers a glimpse into the future of collaboration between operators and OEMs in regional air mobility.
“We are proud to work with a leading innovator in regional air mobility like Tidal Flight to work towards our shared mission of reshaping the way people move” said Azzarello.
About WingTips
WingTips was founded by an aviation enthusiast who believed regional air travel was the solution to existing difficulties with trips that require driving or flying 100 to 400 miles. His vision was to harness the power of technology to deliver a premium human-centered air travel service. WingTips is a regional air mobility company. The company serves Texas with Shared Charter service and across the nation with Private Charter service. WingTips' unique value proposition is the result of proprietary software that finds travel itinerary matches with other travelers and responds with options allowing customers to select the flight that meets their travel needs and budget.
WingTips' business model is designed to maximize the benefits for clients through an integrated approach: Software, Flight Operations, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence-powered decision support – all working together to deliver a human-centered travel experience.
About Tidal Flight, Inc.
Tidal Flight is a Hampton Roads, Virginia-based startup founded in 2023 to build aircraft for sustainable and affordable air travel. Tidal’s first aircraft is Polaris, a modern 9-12 passenger hybrid-electric seaplane designed to serve coastal regional mobility and defense missions. To learn more about Tidal Flight, visit www.tidalflight.com.