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Ocean Flyer Welcomes Japan Airlines (JAL) to the REGENT Family
Ocean Flyer is incredibly excited to welcome Japan Airlines to the REGENT seaglider family as a key investor. The announcement, made today, is a significant development in Ocean Flyer's mission to bring REGENT's seagliders to the shores of Aotearoa New Zealand following its historic $700 million order for 25 seagliders, announced by CEO, Shah Aslam in April 2022.
REGENT and Japan Airlines Innovation Fund, a strategic fund that is the venture arm of Japan Airlines (JAL), one of the world’s premier carriers, have announced their new partnership today. This investment in REGENT serves as a first step in the exploration of incorporating seagliders into JAL’s global network and highlights its commitment to sustainable transportation. With this investment, REGENT has raised over $70 million to date.
“This strategic investment speaks to the growing adoption of seaglider technology by major airlines,” said Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of REGENT. “At REGENT, we’re at the helm of ushering in a completely new era in sustainable transportation, and JAL Innovation Fund’s investment gives us the resources and support that we need to unveil an innovative approach for regional travel at lower costs, faster speeds, and zero emissions.”
“We are very pleased to make this investment in REGENT from our corporate venture capital fund (CVC), JAL Innovation Fund,” says Yasushi Noda, Executive Officer, Senior Vice President – Digital Innovation at Japan Airlines. “We believe seagliders are a safe, sustainable, and economical solution and we are excited to work with REGENT to assess demand not only in Japan but around the world. We are delighted to add seagliders to JAL’s list of new challenges and are honored to work with REGENT to explore the possibilities of seagliders.”
“Japan is recognized globally for its advancement in technology and innovation. Its transport systems, such as the Shinkansen bullet train inaugurated over 50 years ago (speeds that exceed 300 km/h) are world leading and have played a massive role in unlocking the prosperity in Japan. Having grown up in Tokyo, I had the opportunity to experience an efficient, fast and reliable transport system on a daily basis, as my main avenue of connection between home and school.”
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“As an airline JAL has a reputation for reliability and safety. JAL’s strategic investment in Regent signals its confidence in seagliders – another technological leap in transport which will revolutionize public transport by being fast, affordable, comfortable and sustainable.”
“This is an historic day for the fast growing seaglider community around the world and I congratulate JAL on sharing our common global vision of a sustainable future,” said Aslam.
In addition to the investment, REGENT and JAL are working together to explore opportunities for ecosystem development, bringing together relevant stakeholders to deliver the benefits of seagliders to new and underserved markets. REGENT’s investors to date include Thiel Capital, Y Combinator, Founders Fund, and Mark Cuban.
ABOUT JAPAN AIRLINES INNOVATION FUND AND TRANSLINK CAPITAL
Japan Airlines Innovation Fund is a strategic fund that has a structure of Translink Capital as a general partner (GP) and Japan Airlines as a limited partner (LP) to push the innovation frontier of airlines business.
Japan Airlines (JAL) was founded in 1951 and became the first international airline in Japan.
A member of the oneworld® alliance, the airline now reaches 381 cities in 65 countries and regions together with its codeshare partners with a modern fleet of 227 aircraft. JAL has a market capitalization of over NZ$14billion. JAL Mileage Bank (JMB), the airline's loyalty program, is one of the largest mileage programs in Asia. Awarded as one of the most punctual major international airlines and a certified 5-Star Airline by Skytrax, JAL is committed to providing customers with the highest levels of flight safety and quality in every aspect of its service, and one of the most preferred airlines in the world.
Translink Capital invests mainly in early-stage startups across the globe that enable disruptive technologies and business models. Those startups can go through accelerated growth by benefiting from the firm's long-standing relationships with leading global technology, Internet, electronics, telecommunications, financial services and mobility corporations based in Greater China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.
ABOUT REGENT
REGENT is pioneering the future of sustainable maritime mobility. REGENT builds seagliders, a new category of electric vehicle that operates exclusively over the water that will drastically reduce the time and cost of moving people and goods between coastal cities. Seagliders will service routes up to 290kms with existing battery technology and up to 800kms with next-generation batteries, via existing dock infrastructure. REGENT has an order book of more than $12billion. For more information, visit regentcraft.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
ABOUT OCEAN FLYER
Ocean Flyer signed a historic $700m agreement in April 2022 with REGENT to bring 25 seagliders to New Zealand. Ocean Flyer is the first seaglider-only company setup in the world to bring sustainable, fully electric, fast, affordable and comfortable new mode for mass public transport.
Ocean Flyer is committed to connecting communities across the motu, tackling climate change, and building a more resilient and affordable transport network for everyone.
For more information, visit oceanflyer.co.nz and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.