• The Aqualines company will test its ground effect vehicles in Bayonne, before marketing which will begin in 2024.

  • Seagoing vessels can reach speeds of 200 to 320 km / h and make it possible to envisage connections on inland seas, between islands or on large lakes.

  • Their major advantage is that no large infrastructure is necessary to accommodate them, they can simply land on a beach.

Neither really a boat, nor really a plane.

"It is a new mode of transport: it is called a ground effect vehicle or sea vessel," suggests Guillaume Catala, co-founder of Aqualines.

With speeds between 200 and 320 km / h, it flies flush with the water due to ground effect, an aerodynamic phenomenon that manifests itself during a flight at very low altitude.

Tests will be carried out from the port of Bayonne, before marketing is planned by the company Aqualines in 2024.

  • Where does this ground effect technology come from?

Aqualines was created in 2013 but the technology to tame the ground effect was developed during the Cold War in the 1950s with military aims. "The Soviets are the masters in terms of ground effects, they had developed around twenty different machines with machines that went at 500 km / h," says Guillaume Catala, co-founder of Aqualines. With the end of the Cold War, military programs came to a halt and this technology was put on hold for three decades.

In 2013, Pavel Tsarapkin, now president of Aqualines, took an interest in this technology with the ambition of developing it for public transport without carbon footprint.

He also manages several companies in various sectors (aeronautical design and construction, real estate, service and medical engineering, etc.)

  • At what stage of development is Aqualines?

"We are going to manufacture scale 1 prototypes after smaller prototypes which have undergone effects in the wind tunnel, in hull tanks, and all other imaginable tests", explains Guillaume Catala.

The modes of propulsion considered are electric and hydrogen.

For thirty months, it is first a three-seater without a cockpit and an eight-seater with a cockpit that will be tested.

“Every thirty months we increase in the size of the devices until reaching 300 seats in the end,” explains Guillaume Catala.

The idea is to eventually offer ultra-fast ferries, which reach speeds comparable to those of TGVs, for connections on inland seas or large lakes.

  • Why are the tests being done in Bayonne?

“Toulouse is the cradle of aeronautics, but there is no sea,” summarizes Guillaume Catala.

In Bayonne, we have the estuary for testing at low speed on the Adour, and access to the Bay of Biscay for testing in the open sea. ”The Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster (centered on New -Aquitaine and Occitanie) also allows Aqualines to access a whole useful network to finalize their machines.

  • What will be the first connections?

The first demonstrator will be launched between Tallinn and Helsinki, over a journey of just over 80 km in the Baltic Sea.

“It's very interesting for countries that have lots of islands, for example Greece or Southeast Asia.

We have a lot of requests for Indonesia, ”says the co-founder of Aqualines.

A demonstrator, which will have no commercial outlet, is also envisaged between Bayonne and Saint-Sébastien.

The major advantage of this mode of transport is that it does not require the installation of heavy infrastructures such as ports or airports.

"It can land / land on a beach," says Guillaume Catala.

We can ultimately provide fairly light pontoons.

"

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