Airseas has successfully validated Seawing’s traction flights on Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ vessel Ville de Bordeaux. This demonstrates that the wind propulsion system is working as planned, providing its first tonnes of traction that will help reduce the ship’s fuel consumption and emissions.

With automated take-off and landing also fully functional, the next phases of the sea trials will focus on testing dynamic flying, which allows the kite to maximize its traction power, as well as gathering performance data and fine-tuning the automated flight system.
 
The validation of traction flights is the latest achievement in the technology’s ongoing sea trials, which are taking place during the Ville de Bordeaux’s commercial operations between Europe and the United States. These trials aim to test the Seawing system, which was developed with expertise on flight control and automation from the aerospace sector, and validate its performance.
 
The thorough transatlantic trials were conducted by Airseas’ engineers on board, with the support of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, which operates the Ville de Bordeaux, and Airbus, which charters the vessel to transport aircraft components.
 
The completion of this technical milestone marks an important step towards the industrialization of Seawing, with planning well underway to build a factory in Nantes in 2026. Airseas is scaling up its company to meet demand for the solution, with commitments from major shipping lines such as K Line, with whom Airseas has a 20-year agreement, with options for the Seawing to be installed on up to 51 of its vessels.

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