{"id":5882630,"date":"2026-07-17T09:04:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/catalina-ii-flying-boat-pan-am-first-customer-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T09:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:23:04","slug":"catalina-ii-flying-boat-pan-am-first-customer-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/catalina-ii-flying-boat-pan-am-first-customer-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Catalina Flying Boat Rises Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><p>Eighty years ago, a fat-bellied flying boat called the PBY Catalina rescued downed airmen, sank submarines and crossed oceans on missions that lasted a full day and night. Its type certificate has quietly survived ever since. Now someone wants to build brand-new ones &mdash; and fly them as flying yachts.<\/p><p>On 16 July, the Florida-based Catalina Aircraft Trust announced its first customer for the Catalina II, a modernised, turboprop version of the wartime legend. The buyer is an unlikely one: a Hong Kong start-up called Pan American Airways System, which has licensed the storied Pan Am name and signed a funded letter of intent for as many as 46 aircraft.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px;border-radius:8px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:15px;letter-spacing:.03em\">QUICK FACTS<\/p><table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.5\"><tbody><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Announced<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">16 July 2026 (first reported by FlightGlobal)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Aircraft<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">Catalina II \u2014 modernised turboprop flying boat<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Maker<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">Catalina Aircraft Trust, Florida<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Customer<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">Pan American Airways System (Hong Kong), up to 46 aircraft<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Cabin<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">Ultra-luxury, 10 seats, lounge &amp; galley \u2014 reviving the \u201cClipper\u201d name<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>First routes<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">African trunk routes, e.g. Alexandria to Cape Town<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 14px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>First service<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">Planned 2027 (development still early)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A legend with a live type certificate<\/h2><p>The Catalina Aircraft Trust has spent more than a decade as custodian of the original PBY Catalina\u2019s type certification, supporting the handful of vintage examples still flying. In 2023, at the Oshkosh airshow, it announced something bolder: a clean production restart, building new airframes based directly on the tried-and-tested 1930s design.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Catalina Aircraft is announcing a production restart program with the rebirth of an iconic and respected legend as the Catalina II, a new production, modernized, turboprop with civil and government\/military variants.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Catalina Aircraft<\/strong> &mdash; Production-restart announcement, Oshkosh 2023<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The logic, according to founder and company president Lawrence Reece, is that modifying an existing certificated type should be far simpler than certifying a clean-sheet aircraft from scratch. The Catalina II would, he argues, become the only Western-certificated transport-category flying boat &mdash; a genuinely unusual niche.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=1762447427  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/4c\/Consolidated_PBY_Catalina_landing_at_Naval_Air_Station_Jacksonville%2C_Florida_%28USA%29%2C_circa_in_1943.jpg\" alt=\"A PBY Catalina landing on water in 1943\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The original Consolidated PBY Catalina, landing at NAS Jacksonville around 1943 \u2014 the wartime design the Catalina II revives. Photo: U.S. Navy \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Flying yachts over Africa<\/h2><p>Pan American Airways System &mdash; which licenses the Pan Am brand from Pan American Global Holdings &mdash; plans to operate the Catalina IIs as ultra-luxury aircraft: just ten seats apiece, with a lounge and galley, under the historic \u201cClipper\u201d name once carried by Pan Am\u2019s great transoceanic flying boats. The first routes would be African trunk services, such as Alexandria to Cape Town, hopping between luxury resorts and natural landmarks, before expanding to the Caribbean, South America and beyond.<\/p><p>It is a romantic vision. It is also, for now, just that. Much of the Catalina II\u2019s development remains undone: engines, avionics and flight systems are still being evaluated, and the operator currently flies no other aircraft. First service is pencilled in for 2027, a date even sympathetic observers treat with raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I remain highly skeptical, but\u2026 when I see three or more on their ramp, I will tip my hat.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>aniemyer<\/strong> &mdash; Aviation commentator, on X (14 July 2026)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why flying boats are suddenly interesting again<\/h2><p>The timing is not entirely nostalgic. As militaries eye the vast distances of the Pacific, the old virtues of amphibious aircraft &mdash; long endurance, the ability to operate without runways, big internal loads &mdash; are back in fashion. The Trust is pitching the Catalina II for search-and-rescue, maritime patrol, firefighting and special missions, with claimed figures of up to 19 hours\u2019 endurance and 30 troops or 16,000 lb of cargo.<\/p><p>It is not the only revival attempt: a separate Florida firm, the Catalina Aircraft Company of Vero Beach, is pursuing a more ambitious clean-sheet design called the SPAR. Whether either reaches a ramp is an open question. But for the first time in a long while, the flying boat &mdash; that graceful, improbable machine &mdash; has customers talking again.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-zJLa0E65Vc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;text-align:center;margin-top:-8px\">The wartime PBY Catalina \u2014 the aircraft the Catalina II sets out to modernise.<\/p><p style=\"font-style:italic;font-size:14px;color:#555\">Sources: FlightGlobal; The Aviationist; Catalina Aircraft Trust; AvBrief.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/henri-fabre-hydravion-le-canard-first-seaplane-1910\/\">The Duck That Invented the Seaplane<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/saunders-roe-princess-flying-boat-too-late\/\">Britain's Giant Flying Boat, Born Too Late<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eighty years ago, a fat-bellied flying boat called the PBY Catalina rescued downed airmen, sank submarines and crossed oceans on missions that lasted a full day and night. Its type certificate has quietly survived ever since. Now someone wants to build brand-new ones &mdash; and fly them as flying yachts. On 16 July, the Florida-based [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":5882639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5882630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Catalina Flying Boat Rises Again<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Hong Kong Pan Am start-up signed for up to 46 modernised Catalina II flying boats. 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