While more sustainable aviation fuels and electric planes are being discussed, there is another way to travel by air that is currently being proposed as an ecological alternative: airships.
Technically, a blimp is a cigar-shaped self-propelled aircraft, made of a huge balloon filled with nearly weightless lifting gases, with an attached cabin or gondola to carry passengers, crew, and cargo.
If you’re conjuring up an image from the past, in black and white, you’re right: airships were popular in the early 20th century, before the rise of aviation as we know it today. But now, they are coming back.
Modern technological advances and the need to further develop the aviation industry, which is slowly striving to reach the goal of net zero carbon emissions, have led aeronautical engineers to reexamine the airship.
New materials, including new forms of ultralight nylon, have made a new type of aircraft possible.
The replacement of flammable hydrogen with helium has allowed safer development that prevents a repeat of the Hindenburg disaster, the luxury German airship that exploded in 1937.
Experience compensates for speed
New advances and stricter aviation standards mean that really the only thing these new airships have in common with the Hindenburg is their shape and the fact that they use a lighter-than-air gas.
Although airships, which typically fly at about 100-130 km/h, will never reach the speeds of a modern airplane, they are talked about as a form of slow travel, like cruise ships and night trains, where the experience makes up for the less speed.
Blimps fly at a lower altitude than an airplane and have non-pressurized cabins that allow you to open the window and look through it, making it more comfortable for passengers.
The super-sized balloon also requires much less energy to operate, and could potentially be powered by electric motors powering takeoff and steering, making them a zero-carbon form of air transportation.
“It is good that we are testing different ideas and innovations, as exploring various solutions is key to improving aviation and making it more sustainable in the future,” said leading aviation expert Thomas Thessen, associate professor at Aalborg University and chief analyst. of Scandinavian Airlines.
“The biggest advantage I can see is that they can stay in the air for a long time and that they have the ability to fly vertically upwards.”
Blimps don’t need a runway to take off, meaning they can take off and land anywhere that has a flat space big enough for them, which could be as simple a place as a field, as long as there’s something to reach. can tie.
This also means that they can help rescue people in the event of natural disasters.
Question of efficiency
The world’s largest airship, the LTA Pathfinder 1, is currently being tested in Silicon Valley, California.
This 124.5 m by 20 m new generation zeppelin is equivalent in size to four Goodyear blimps and longer than three Boeing 737s.
LTA, which stands for “lighter than air,” is one of the few airship manufacturers around the world currently ready to enter the aviation market.
Founded by Sergey Brin, former president of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, the company believes that next-generation blimps can reduce aviation’s carbon footprint by using helium inside the balloon to perform lift, instead of a powered engine. reaction that emits carbon, and use much smaller engines for thrust.
Applications for your airship include more efficient transportation of cargo from one point to another (rather than port to port); and in cases where the distribution of humanitarian aid is needed, where the airship can support relief efforts delivering supplies even if runways, roads and ports are damaged.
They are not alone: the French company Flying Whales is also developing airships for cargo use, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of cargo transportation; while British firm Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is focusing on how a hybrid airship, using electric motors and helium, can enable a form of zero-emission air travel.
Mini revolution in the skies
While sustainable aviation has a long way to go to become a solution for commercial travel, it all adds up to creating a mini-revolution in the skies.
Together with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and electric aircraft, the new generation of airships offers an alternative to current flights.
“We say the Airlander connects the unconnected,” said Hannah Cunningham, HAV marketing director.
The Airlander 10 is their first airship in production, a curvaceous vehicle filled with helium that wouldn’t look out of place in a comic book. It has a few different uses: one of them is to connect remote islands where it is not economical to build airports.
“Large infrastructure like an airport or a train line is not needed with an aircraft like this; all you need is a flat surface to land on,” he notes.
“It opens up many opportunities to connect places that are currently unconnected, for example communities in places like the Scottish Highlands and Islands.”
The Airlander 10 will have four kerosene engines, but due to the helium-filled hull, it emits 90% less CO2 than a typical aircraft. (By 2030, HAV aims to have an electric motor powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and offer zero-emission flights.)
It travels at a maximum speed of 130 km/h and can function as a mass passenger transport vehicle for up to 90 people.
It’s not as fast as an airplane (a typical commercial passenger plane flies at 770-930 km/h), but it’s not trying to replace it either.
The big benefit is that it can connect places where infrastructure is too expensive or ridership is too low, Cunningham says.
stick your head out the window
Plans are progressing apace: last year, HAV signed an agreement with Spanish airline Air Nostrum to double its stock of Airlander aircraft to 20 for passenger use starting in 2028, with the idea of using them to connect the Spanish islands with the continent.
With a factory up and running to build hybrid aircraft and certification underway with the Civil Aviation Authority, they could be certified safe to fly and enter production processes within four years.
For Thessen, The idea that airships can fill the sky like airplanes is unrealistic..
“The most important thing in aviation is speed,” he says. “If we compare aviation to airships, airships travel at a speed closer to that of a car. In my opinion, airships cannot replace airplanesbut they could play a niche role, like cruise ships, in slower travel.”
However, they have a recipient in anyone who is enthusiastic about slow travel.
“If you can stick your head out the window and enjoy the view while traveling slowly over the landscape, I can see that playing a small part in a special experience.”
In Germany, you can now try these types of special experiences. For about $519 for a 45-minute flight, Zeppelin offers classic flights in a Goodyear blimp over several cities in the Bodensee area of southern Germany, very similar to hot air balloon experiences.
Deluxe
Ocean Sky Cruises goes one step further. It offers unique experiences with a journey from Svalbard to the North Pole, taking full advantage of the fact that an airship can land on ice and does not need a runway or airport.
The journey is expected to last two days and will be undertaken in the utmost luxury in a cabin with panoramic windows, elegant dining areas and opulent rooms with luxury beds that allow you to enjoy views of the icebergs as you go.
Cabins for the extraordinary experience sell for around $200,000, and are selling so well that the only seats left are on a waiting list, even though there are no departure dates and the aircraft stops for the trip (which expected to be the Airlander 10) has not been certified to fly, nor has it even been purchased.
Future plans include a route following the Tropic of Capricorn from Namibia’s Skeleton Coast to Victoria Falls on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, flying low and slowly over extraordinary landscapes and wildlife, and stopping at places difficult to access by plane. In theory, it sounds amazing; In practice, there is still a long way to go.
The airship industry is still in its early stages, and many things could throw it off course.
Will blimps go the way of flying taxis and run out of money before they can take off? It’s certainly possible, but Brin’s LTA at least appears to have the capital to make its cargo and humanitarian aid plans a reality; and with buy-in from airlines and other investors, HAV is moving forward with plans to have its hybrid airship in the air within the next decade, with the potential to connect remote communities currently underserved by airlines.
For those of us who love to travel, green innovations in the sector are certainly a good thing, even if they are niche. As Cunningham says: “If we want to continue exploring the world like we do now, we don’t want to destroy it like we do now.”“.
*This article was originally published on BBC Travel. To read the original version in English click here
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