Middle East: Open Skies Network and JEKTA to bring Regional Air Mobility to region by next decade

Open Skies Net­work and JEKTA have agreed a strate­gic part­ner­ship to bring elec­tric amphibi­ous air trav­el to the Ara­bi­an Penin­su­la, poten­tial­ly as ear­ly as 2031.

The com­pa­nies will define a net­work of loca­tions where Region­al Air Mobil­i­ty (RAM) can con­nect remote regions of the Gulf Cor­po­ra­tion Coun­cil (GCC) with urban hubs, open­ing up a raft of lux­u­ry, leisure, civ­il and busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties.

The announce­ment comes as Open Skies Net­work con­firmed vis­its to the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates next month to meet key part­ners and iden­ti­fy suit­able loca­tions where amphibi­ous oper­a­tions can inte­grate into broad­er, relat­ed RAM and eVTOL air­craft infra­struc­ture.

The com­pa­ny has already suc­cess­ful­ly deliv­ered world-first projects for the likes of Roy­al Mail and the NHS in the UK. Addi­tion­al­ly, it has already part­nered with 20 UK port loca­tions, agree­ing a phased-adop­tion roadmap that will see invest­ment in infra­struc­ture and reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance to sup­port JEKTA’s UK mar­ket entry in 2030.

Gareth What­more, CEO of Open Skies Net­work, said: “The Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates is known around the world for its vision­ary approach and abil­i­ty to deliv­er world-lead­ing infra­struc­ture projects. With the first sub-30 mile elec­tric air­craft flights like­ly to take place in the region before 2027, it is the per­fect time to look ahead to the next phase of Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty.

“By inte­grat­ing sus­tain­able air­craft and mobil­i­ty solu­tions across water and land, such as JEKTA’s air­craft, we can seam­less­ly con­nect the peninsula’s touris­tic gems while avoid­ing ter­res­tri­al grid­lock and ensur­ing pas­sen­gers enjoy the qual­i­ty of expe­ri­ence the region is known for. 

What­more adds: “JEKTA’s amphibi­ous air­craft enjoy a unique mar­ket posi­tion that aligns close­ly with our cul­ture and val­ues and we’re delight­ed to be work­ing along­side them to realise our vision for future-proofed, decar­bonised region­al flight.”

JEKTA, led by George Alafi­nov, com­pris­es a team with more than two decades of expe­ri­ence in design­ing and build­ing fly­ing boats. This includes Ultra­light Air­craft (ULA) and larg­er eight-seat vari­ants, mak­ing them per­fect­ly posi­tioned to deliv­er a new amphibi­ous air­craft to the glob­al air trans­port net­work.

The com­pa­ny is cur­rent­ly devel­op­ing its all-elec­tric PHA-ZE 100 amphibi­ous fly­ing boat, which will be pow­ered by hydro­gen fuel cell tech­nolo­gies and cer­ti­fied to Part 23 stan­dards for fixed-wing pas­sen­ger air­craft.

The PHA-ZE 100 is designed for sus­tain­able region­al, VVIP, cor­po­rate shut­tle, mede­vac, or car­go trans­porta­tion, fea­tur­ing low oper­at­ing costs, unprece­dent­ed com­fort, and flex­i­ble con­fig­u­ra­tions to facil­i­tate oper­a­tions in diverse envi­ron­ments.

The PHA-ZE 100 will oper­ate in coastal waters with waves up to 1.2m high, as well as in lakes, water­ways, and on paved and unpaved run­ways, uti­liz­ing its stan­dard retractable wheeled land­ing gear.

Wouter du Preez, CIO at JEKTA, said: “We’re pleased to be work­ing with Open Skies Net­work to sup­port the infra­struc­ture evo­lu­tion, which will enable us to opti­mise pos­si­bil­i­ties.

“The UAE and the whole GCC is rich with poten­tial for JEKTA, and hav­ing already received sig­nif­i­cant inter­est, includ­ing for­ward sale agree­ments for our air­craft from glob­al oper­a­tors and leas­ing enti­ties keen on GCC expan­sion, we see it as a cor­ner­stone of our com­mer­cial devel­op­ment.

“The PHA-ZE 100’s mul­ti­ple-oper­at­ing para­me­ters, attrac­tive per-set eco­nom­ics, ver­sa­tile inte­ri­or con­fig­u­ra­tions, and sus­tain­able qual­i­ties will add a new mode of trans­port to fill gaps cur­rent­ly left by mobil­i­ty assets that can only oper­ate on either land or water.

“With the abil­i­ty to oper­ate on paved, unpaved, and water run­ways, we can expand routes and oppor­tu­ni­ties in the UAE, GCC, and beyond, includ­ing South­ern Europe and North Africa.”