Why are there not more flying boats?

[hairyben]

You think with many major airports running at capacity and landing taxes being so high, and budget airlines looking to cut costs everywhere, that cutting out the airport entirely might be a canny idea?

thames estuary > southern european coast direct, parking 10 mins from the hotel sounds like a winner for holiday season no?

Not many people building seaplanes these days but the russion be-200 has a range of 1300 miles and seats 72 so the concepts sound, whats the reason no-ones cottoned on?

Are seaplanes too expensive to operate compared to the hard worked busses that make up most airlines that negates the taxes? Or concerns regarding controlling the movement of people, something difficult enough with static ports & airports but once you have seaplanes buzzing about the place who controls who's coming and going?

I guess weathers the biggest drawback, and a plane that can only be used seasonally loses out economically to ground based a/c.

[hairyben]

ecsrobin said:

What we need is more ekranoplan's

how do ekranoplans deal with sea traffic when they're ploughing along at 400mph? I imagine you'd seriously ps off any small vessels you couldn't see until you'd given them a free express carwash and sailboats/10 storey container vessels would pose a serious risk?