Hybrid Air Vehicles
Airlander 10, the “Flying Tail”
A big fad in the 20th century, airships are gaining momentum again, providing slower, more environmentally friendly travel.
Technically speaking, the airship is basically a load of hot air: a self-propelled aircraft, typically cigar-shapedmade up of an immense balloon filled with almost weightless gases that lift it into the air. And it includes a car or gondola attached to the balloon, to transport passengers, cargo and crew.
It is true that airships remind us of images of the past, in black and white. After all, they were popular in the early 20th century, before the progress of aviation as we know it. But now they are coming back.
Modern technological advances, combined with the need to develop aviation at a time when it is slowly struggling to achieve carbon neutralityled aeronautical engineers to examine the return of the airship.
Since its heyday, new materials have been developed, such as innovative forms of nylon ultralevewhich make it possible to manufacture a new type of aircraft.
And the replacement of flammable hydrogen with helium allowed the development of safer airships, to avoid a repeat of the Hindenburg disaster — the luxury German aircraft that exploded in 1937 at the exact moment it was being filmed live.
New advances and the more rigorous standards of today’s aviation mean that the only thing in common between the Hindenburg and the new aircraft, in fact, is their shape — plus they both make use of a gas lighter than air.
Since the airship typically flies at around 100-130 km/h, it will never reach the speed of a jet plane. But it is being studied as a slow mode of transport, like cruise ships and night trains, where the passenger experience pays off at low speed.
Airships fly at lower altitudes than planes, with depressurized cabins. In them, you can open the window and look outside, which offers more comfort for passengers.
The big balloon too consumes much less energy and can be operated with electric motors for take-off and during piloting. With this, the airship would be a form of air transport without carbon emissions.
“It’s great that we are testing different ideas and innovations,” says aviation expert Thomas Thessen, professor at Aalborg University, Denmark, and chief analyst at Scandinavian Airlines. “Exploring diverse solutions is key to improving aviation and making it more sustainable in the future.”
“The main advantage I see is that they can stay in the air for a long timein addition to its ability to fly vertically.”
Airships do not need landing and take-off runways. They can take off and land anywhere there is a flat space large enough for them. It can be a simple place like an open field, as long as there is something they can get stuck in.
This means they can help rescue peoplein the case of natural disasters, when internet and telephony may not be available.
The largest airship in the world is the LTA Pathfinder 1. It is currently in the testing phase in Silicon Valley, California.
The new generation zeppelin is 124.5 m long by 20 meters wide. Its size is equivalent to four Goodyear blimps and is longer than three Boeing 737s.
One of the few airship manufacturers in the world poised to enter the aviation market is LTA — short for “lighter than air“, in English.
The company was founded by Sergey Brin, former president of Alphabet, the company that owns Google. She believes that new generation airships can reduce carbon footprint of aviation, using helium inside the balloon to stay in the air, instead of a carbon-emitting jet engine, and much smaller engines for propulsion.
Airships can be used for more efficient point-to-point cargo transport (not between airports) and humanitarian aid. The aircraft can offer support to rescue teams, providing supplies even in places where there is damage to landing strips, ports and roads.
The LTA is not entirely alone. The French company Flying Whales (“flying whales” in English) is also currently developing freighter airships. Its objective is to reduce the environmental impact of cargo transport.
The British company Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is dedicated to developing a hybrid airship (with electric motors, in addition to helium) to offer carbon-free air travel.
Sustainable aviation still has a long way to go before it becomes a mass transportation solution. But these advances represent a small revolution in the air.
Alongside sustainable aviation fuel and electric planes, the new generation of airships offers a alternative to current aviation and its carbon intensive use.
“We say that the Airlander connect or disconnect“, says HAV’s head of marketing, Hannah Cunningham.
The Airlander 10 is the first commercial airship from the company — a vehicle with curved shapes filled with helium, which could very well be in a comic book story.
But it has different uses. One of them is to connect remote islands, where the construction of airports is economically unfeasible.
“With an aircraft of this type, you don’t need a lot of infrastructure, like an airport or train line,” explains Cunningham. “All you need is a flat surface to land on.”
“It opens up a lot of opportunities to connect places that aren’t currently connected, like communities in places like the islands and the Highlands of Scotland.”
The Airlander 10 will have four kerosene engines. But with its helium-filled hull, it emits 90% less CO₂ than a typical aircraft. HAV aims to have an electric engine powered by hydrogen fuel cells and offer zero-carbon flights by 2030.
The airship travels at a maximum speed of 130 km/h and can operate as a passenger transport vehicle with up to 90 people on board.
Its speed is far from comparable to airplanes — a common commercial passenger jet flies at 770-930 km/h. But the airship is not intended to replace them either.
Its great benefit is the possibility of connecting places where infrastructure is very expensive or where there is low number of passengersaccording to Cunningham.
But the projects are moving at high speed. Last year, HAV signed a contract with Spanish airline Air Nostrum, doubling its Airlander airship reservations to 20 units. The intention is to adopt the airship to transport passengers from 2028, between the Spanish islands and the mainland.
With a site equipped to build hybrid aircraft and certification with the Civil Aviation Authority on the way, the airships could be certified safe to fly and enter production within the next four years.
For Thessen, the idea of seeing airships in the sky like planes is not realistic. “The main issue in aviation is speed,” he explains.
“When you compare airships and airplanes, airships travel at a very high speed. closer to cars. In my opinion, they cannot replace planes, but they can fill a niche with slower travel, like cruise ships.”
Thessen considers the possibility of serving people fascinated by slow travel. “If I can stick my head out the window and watch the scenery as it travels slowly, I can imagine a small role for the airship in offering a special experience.”
In Germany, this type of special experience already exists.
For around 500 euros, the company Zeppelin offers 45-minute airship flights of Goodyear over several cities in the Lake Constance region, in southern Germany — all in the style of hot air balloon rides.
The company Ocean Sky Cruises takes the activity one step further. The pioneering high-luxury zeppelin airline offers the unique experience of a journey from Svalbard, Norway, to the North Pole. It makes the best use of the possibility of landing the airship on ice, without the need for an airport runway.
The trip is estimated at two days, with all the luxury, in the gondola of an airship with panoramic windows, beautiful dining rooms and opulent cabins, with luxurious eco-friendly beds overlooking the icebergs during the trip.
The cabins for this extraordinary experience cost around 200 thousand dollars. Even so, the trip is a sales success, so much so that the only remaining seats are on the waiting list.
But departure dates have not yet been set. After all, the aircraft (expected to be the Airlander 10) has not yet been certified to fly and, therefore, cannot be purchased.
For those who like to travel, the sector’s green innovations are certainly good news, no matter how specific they may be.
As Cunningham says, “if we want to continue to explore the world as we do today, we cannot destroy it.”
