Boeing Jetfoil

A Jetfoil is the name for a passenger-carrying waterjet-propelled hydrofoil design by Boeing.

Boeing began adapting many systems used in jet airplanes for hydrofoils. Boeing launched its first passenger-carrying waterjet-propelled hydrofoil, in April 1974. It could carry from 167 to 400 passengers. It was based on the same technology pioneered by the patrol hydrofoil Tucumcari, and used some of the same technology used in the Pegasus class military patrol hydrofoils. Currently this product line is sold to the Japanese company Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

About two dozen Boeing Jetfoils saw service in Hong Kong-Macau, Japan, South Korea, the English Channel, the Canary Islands, the Korea Strait, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Seaflite Inc., based in Honolulu, Hawai'i operated 3 Boeing Jetfoils between 1975 to the company's demise in 1978. All 3 Jetfoils were sold to a Hong Kong-based ferry operator.

In 1979, the Royal Navy purchased a Boeing Jetfoil, HMS Speedy, to provide the Royal Navy with an opportunity to gain practical experience in the operation and support of a modern hydrofoil, to establish technical and performance characteristics, and to assess the capability of a hydrofoil in the Fishery Protection Squadron.ship.

In North America, the Boeing Jetfoil saw regularly scheduled service between Seattle, WA and Victoria, BC during the summer tourist season of 1980. Leased from Boeing, a single Jetfoil, the Flying Princess, was operated by the non-profit Flying Princess Transportation Corp., with the close co-operation and assistance of the B.C. Steamship Company. Regularly scheduled service ran again on the same Seattle-Victoria run during the summer months of 1985.

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