The vessel is an all-electric hydrofoiling wing-in-ground (WIG) craft, which means it always operates in ground effect, an operation that occurs within one wingspan of the surface of the water and provides increased aerodynamic efficiency, enabling it to travel further on a single charge.

The Monarch seaglider will travel up to 650km at 225km/h with 50-100 passengers or a 10,000kg payload. The Viceroy seaglider will travel up to 300km at 300km/h with 12 passengers or a 1,600kg payload.

A hybrid version of the Monarch could have about 2000 miles of range. In ground effect, induced drag drops by 40-50% due to the "air cushion" between the wing and water, boosting lift-to-drag ratios to 20-30 (versus 15-20 for conventional aircraft in free flight). Larger vehicles amplify this efficiency via the square-cube law: as size increases, volume (payload capacity) grows faster than surface area (drag), reducing energy per ton-mile. Regent's digital controls scale without adding proportional weight or complexity, unlike mechanical stabilizers in past WIG. Combined with electric propulsion, operational costs could be 30-50% lower than ferries or aircraft for coastal routes, while speeds of 140-180 mph make them 5-10x faster than cargo ships (typically 15-25 mph).

This expansion aligns with Regent's broader vision for regional coastal transportation, including partnerships like Hawaiian Airlines for 100-seat island-hopping services.

Flying in ground effect unlocks incredible aerodynamic efficiencies, but for decades, it's been a notoriously difficult regime to operate in—prone to instability and hard to control. Earlier attempts at wing-in-ground effect vehicles, like the Soviet-era ekranoplans, tried to brute-force stability through unconventional wing designs at the expense of efficiency.

The challenge of flying in ground effect

In most airplanes, WIGs included, the tail "lifts" downwards. Think of the airplane or WIG like a see-saw with the pivot on the center of gravity (by the nose). The more the tail pushes downwards, the more the nose rises.

The more an airfoil (like a wing, or a tail) turns the airflow, the more lift it creates. The angle between the line drawn from the nose to the tail of the airfoil (the "chordline"), and the incoming air, is called the angle of attack. The greater the angle of attack, the more the air foil turns the air, and the more lift it generates. This is why an airplane pitches its nose up to takeoff: it increases the angle of attack on the wings to generate enough lift to leave the ground.