Latest news with #FlyingWhales
Washington Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Would you swap your plane ticket for a seat on a zeppelin?
A century ago, zeppelin passengers soared across the Atlantic Ocean in luxurious gondolas hanging from humongous hydrogen-filled balloons — the biggest aircraft humanity has ever built. Then, in 1937, the Hindenburg crashed and burned, and the future of the airship industry went up in smoke. Now, a handful of start-ups want to revive the airship as an alternative for some cargo and passenger flights. The new zeppelins would be much safer, the involved companies say, thanks to materials, technology and weather forecasts that aviators in the 1930s could only dream of. And boosters argue that modern airships could offer a low-carbon and inexpensive way to transport goods and travel. Whereas airplanes burn thousands of gallons of kerosene per hour in their jet engines to stay in the air, the zeppelins in development need a few dozen gallons of diesel fuel per hour, in combination with battery power, cutting harmful emissions by up to 90 percent, companies claim. And because these craft use much less fuel, the idea is that it should translate into lower costs for shippers. The zeppelin revival faces skeptics, though. Among them is John J. Geoghegan, author of 'When Giants Ruled the Sky,' a history of the airship industry. Companies have tried — and failed — to bring back airships every decade or two since the Hindenburg, he said. Every time, the dream has run into a hard economic reality: They haven't found a way to make money. 'The next generation of airships today are quite effective at reducing carbon emissions,' Geoghegan said. 'The question is whether the market will support enough of them for them to make a significant contribution to reducing climate change.' The new zeppelins are still in the early days of their development — none are yet certified to fly. But LTA Research, a start-up backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has begun testing a zeppelin-like airship, adapting a historic California hangar built for Navy spy blimps as space for construction and storage. Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is building a factory in Britain that it says will crank out two dozen ships per year by 2030 to carry cargo and tourists. The French government has backed another start-up, Flying Whales, which plans to build an airship factory in Quebec in 2027 and begin commercial operations by 2029. These modern craft are designed to be sturdier than the zeppelins of yore. Aluminum, copper and wooden frames have given way to carbon fiber and titanium. Crude instruments and steering wheels reminiscent of sailing ships have been replaced by computerized controls and sensors that should allow for precise maneuvering. 'If you went into the gondola, it would look like a commercial aircraft … like you were in a Boeing or an Airbus,' said Brett Crozier, CEO of LTA Research. The specific designs vary. LTA Research and Flying Whales are following the example of the old zeppelins, using sturdy rings to hold the shape of their long, lighter-than-air balloons. HAV's hybrid airship is like a mix between a blimp (which by definition doesn't have a rigid structure) and a plane. Its balloon is slightly heavier than air, but its shape helps generate lift as it moves forward, which pushes it into the sky. One thing they all have in common is their massive size. Airships' balloons need to be huge to lift their gondolas off the ground. 'There's no such thing as a small airship, period,' said Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba. When LTA Research floats its 400-foot-long Pathfinder 1 airship out of the hangar for a test flight, it's the biggest aircraft in the world. But this is just a prototype for an even bigger version the company plans to use commercially. HAV's airship is 300 feet long and can carry 11 tons of cargo or about 100 passengers. Flying Whales plans to build a 600-foot airship that can carry 60 tons. The engineers have understandably thought a lot about fire risk. The modern prototypes are designed to float using nonflammable helium instead of hydrogen, which cuts the fire risk but invites other challenges. Helium is a scarce, nonrenewable resource that faces regular shortages and price hikes. Companies collect helium as a by-product of natural gas extraction, but — unlike hydrogen — they can't manufacture it: The only way to make helium is at the center of a star or through the slow decay of radioactive elements like uranium. Ultimately, the fate of airships depends on finding a niche in the transport and transportation markets. 'I've been on an airship, and it's a tremendous experience. It's graceful. It's poetic,' Geoghegan said. 'But commercial markets are very hard-nosed, and they're not into poetry and grace. They want a return on investment.' Airship company executives say they can hit a sweet spot that isn't covered by planes or trucks. 'You can either send things expensively and quickly, or cheaply and slowly,' said Diana Little, co-founder of airship start-up Anumá Aerospace. 'This is the middle way that doesn't exist right now.' According to the latest designs, the new airships would tend to max out at about 80 mph. They could beat trucks crawling along interstates in traffic. They'd be much slower than commercial airliners, though, which tend to cruise at between 550 and 600 mph. Some airfreight and tourist flights don't have to move at jet speed, airship boosters argue. They can take it slow to go green. Globally, cargo flights warm the planet about as much as 22 million cars, and their greenhouse emissions are rising, according to a 2024 report from the environmental nonprofit 'We don't need cargo jets. There's very little trade that needs to go that fast,' Prentice said. He pointed out that airlines often convert the oldest and least-efficient passenger planes into cargo carriers. 'They're the most polluting form of air transport, and that's what airships should replace.' As a way to move goods, airships may be most appealing for airfreight that can wait a couple of days for delivery, bulky cargo that won't fit on planes and deliveries to places without runways or roads. The French government originally invested in Flying Whales because it was interested in hauling timber out of remote forests. But the company's leaders say its craft could also carry massive wind turbine blades or pylons for power transmission lines into places that planes or trucks can't easily reach, or carry aid into disaster areas where infrastructure is wrecked. As far as passenger flights, the greatest potential may be for tourist travel where the novelty of an airship is part of the experience, experts say. HAV has struck deals to sell its airships to tourism operators that plan to sell seats onboard as a luxurious and scenic way to cruise between Mediterranean islands, cross the Scottish highlands or fly over the Arctic. Although airships don't need much infrastructure at their destination, they need large clearings or mooring poles to allow them to load and unload. They also need to operate within about 500 miles of their massive, specialized hangars: The LTA Research hangar in California, for instance, covers seven acres under a roof so high that fog sometimes forms near the ceiling. Geoghegan, the airship historian, says he'll believe the revival when he sees it. 'I would love to see airships flying through the sky,' he said. 'But I don't think that specialized cargo, or disaster relief, or even specialized tourism is a big enough market to really sustain these companies.'
CBC
02-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Quebec's Eastern Townships chosen for giant cargo airship project
Social Sharing A French company has chosen Quebec's Eastern Townships as its future cargo airship assembly centre for its North and South American markets. Flying Whales reached an agreement in principle with the City of Sherbrooke, Cookshire-Eaton and Sherbrooke's airport to build a factory on the grounds of the airport. The company plans to build a 50-hectare site to assemble, test, and launch airships — a project expected to create some 300 jobs. Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin believes this will benefit both the economic and social development of the region. "People will want to come here, will want to see those Flying Whales being built and maybe fly one day," she said. "I believe in this project. I think it really answers a real problem that we have about air transportation." The mayor stated that if consultations were needed, the municipality would be open to holding them. "We are very positive about what is happening," Beaudin said. Airships to help reduce carbon footprint, CEO says The agreement in principle enables the involved parties to move forward with environmental, technical, regulatory and financial studies — steps deemed necessary before construction of the facility can begin. Vincent Guibout, CEO of Flying Whales and president of Flying Whales Quebec, said multiple sites were initially considered and were narrowed down to two "good offers," one from Trois-Rivières and the other from Cookshire-Eaton. The company had also been eyeing Drummondville, where it had conducted studies. "The decision to choose [Cookshire-Eaton] is mostly linked to the fact that we had more certainty on that side," said Guibout. A year ago, Flying Whales entered a collaboration agreement with Chantiers Chibougamau to transport lumber, but the partnership fell through. The future airships will carry large loads like wind turbine blades, transmission towers, large equipment and materials. Guibout explained that this will speed up the deployment of technologies required for generating more energy and reduce the carbon footprint "significantly." As for potential environmental concerns, he said that the site, which is already on industrial land, presents a number of "advantages." "It was forecast for the industry and a number of precautions were taken so that we do not destroy protected species on the site," he said. When asked about failed projects in Quebec or those that face uncertainty, such as Northvolt, Guibout said his company would rely on existing technologies and that the market was "huge."
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘The flying bum': can a UK firm making huge airships finally get off the ground?
It's a dreary day in Bedford, but on a flight simulator the skies above San Francisco airport are blue and the wind is low. That is a good thing, because there is an amateur at the joystick of the world's biggest aircraft. The flight simulator models trips by the Airlander 10, which is part airship, part aeroplane. If all goes to plan for its designer, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), two dozen will be built each year from 2030 at a factory in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The virtual 98-metre aircraft noses its way into the air gently, responding gradually to adjustments to its heading about 300 metres (1,000 feet) over the city. This reporter is an old hand when it comes to crashing flight simulators, but the journey passes without incident, albeit with considerable help from one of the five people who has actually flown in the real thing. Those flights astonished crowds when the prototype lifted off in Bedfordshire, an hour north of London, in 2016. The prototype was retired in 2019, after gathering enough data on flying and – once, not fatally – crashing. HAV is now preparing to run the 'scale up' gauntlet: going from an eye-catching first model to building a factory employing 1,200 people, and then making airships capable of transporting 10 tonnes of cargo, or up to 130 passengers, at up to 90mph. Tom Grundy, the HAV chief executive since 2019, says the Airlander can go 'in between the two extremes' of fast but polluting and expensive planes, and cleaner, cheaper but much slower ferries. For short plane journeys run by regional airlines, the costs of operation using an Airlander 'are at or below the cost of what they're operating today' with smaller passenger planes, he says. The Airlander will not need miles of tarmac runway far from city centres, just a flat space about 200 metres across and a truck with a mooring mast. 'It doesn't have to be stuck to going between today's airports,' Grundy says. 'It can go into different places. And yet it's faster than moving around the world over the surface. It's faster than those ferry journeys. It can often be faster than a train journey, very often faster than a car journey. So providing this middle option.' The European regional airline Air Nostrum has said it will buy 20 to carry passengers between Mediterranean islands. The luxury tour company Grands Espaces wants the craft to take passengers on jaunts over the Arctic. HAV has also looked at replacing ferries in the Scottish Highlands and across the Irish Sea between Belfast and Liverpool. Unlike normal planes, weight is the key concern rather than volume. That should mean much more spacious seats for passengers, while luxury tourists will each have double bedrooms. Freight shipping is even more promising, with many customers who would value quicker journeys for bulky loads than ships, but with less expensive fuel burned than planes. HAV is not the only company to spy a gap: France's Flying Whales is hoping to build a dirigible for cargo only, while Lighter than Air Research (LTA) is focusing on humanitarian missions. They are all in the precarious startup phase. HAV has spent £140m since 2007, but the latest accounts showed just £400,000 cash on hand at the end of 2023. Other low-emission flight companies, including a clutch employing electric vertical take-off and landing, have run into difficulties recently. The German companies Lilium and Volocopter filed for bankruptcy in late 2024. Yet HAV is aiming to spend a fraction of the cash of some aerospace rivals. It is seeking to raise £300m in equity funding, with the first chunk by the summer. (It is angling for part of the cash from the Labour government's national wealth fund.) That money, plus deposits on orders worth a notional £1.5bn, should make the company cashflow positive, Grundy says. Grundy has brought several aircraft from design to flight in a career that includes fighter jet manufacturer BAE Systems and work on the Airbus A380, at 73 metres another leviathan of the skies. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Carbon reduction, in perhaps the hardest sector to decarbonise, was one motivator for Grundy joining HAV. The company claims emissions will be 90% lower than a conventional plane. That could get to 100%, as it plans to switch from internal combustion engines to hydrogen fuel cells to power the Airlander's four propellers. The reason for the lower energy use is obvious – balloons float – but that only provides 60% of the lift, a 'headstart against gravity'. The Airlander is also an aeroplane: the shape of the balloon – made from a composite of Kevlar and two other materials – makes it a giant wing. That also saves on expensive – and finite – helium. The Airlander started life as a project for the US Department of Defense, which wanted a surveillance aircraft. HAV says Airlanders will stay airborne for five days, making them 10 times cheaper than fixed-wing drones and easier to control than spy balloons. The company has a deal with BAE Systems to handle sales to military customers. Grundy declined to comment when asked if BAE or another technology partner, France's Dassault, could become investors. HAV's designers came up with an innovative double-ellipsoid airframe that gives the wing shape without sagging when 10 tonnes hang in a gondola below it. The shape also provided its very unofficial nickname: the 'flying bum'. 'I think we've got more important things to do than be annoyed about that,' says Grundy when asked the inevitable. 'To feel the warmth, the engagement, and sometimes the humour of how people responded to that, it actually was quite powerful for me.' The flying bum could also get much bigger: HAV is already planing a 50-tonne, 120-metre version for freight customers that could carry wind turbine blades up remote hills. Eventually Grundy wants to make a 200-tonne version that would blow past the A380's 84-tonne payload – and potentially open up the possibility of the world's biggest aircraft crisscrossing the Pacific. The Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when the German airship's hydrogen balloon burst into flames over New Jersey, made lighter-than-air craft seem a thing of the past for a long time, but the sight of a 98-metre ship in the sky is also something out of sci-fi future. In real life the Airlander (filled with non-flammable helium) was enough to stop traffic whenever the prototype flew. 'I never thought I would be in the lighter-than-air space when I started my career,' Grundy says. 'I think airships have been very, very hard to make practical. I'm attracted to what we're doing here because it is practical. But once I got into it, you start to realise how many future visions that people have of the world include aircraft a bit like this.'
Fox News
24-02-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Massive airship could shake up cargo transport
French startup Flying Whales is on a mission to transform cargo transport with its ambitious Large Capacity Airship 60 Tonne (LCA60T) project. This colossal helium-filled airship, measuring 656 feet in length, aims to connect population centers with remote, inaccessible areas by moving important goods and materials without touching the ground. The LCA60T features a cargo capacity of up to 132,000 pounds, surpassing an Airbus Beluga XL. The airship's helium volume reaches 6.3 million cubic feet, enabling it to reach a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet. Propelled by 32 electric propeller drives with a combined 5,360 horsepower, the LCA60T can achieve a top speed of 63 mph. The LCA60T incorporates several cutting-edge design elements. Its skeletal frame features a composite beam lattice construction with metal joints. The airship contains 14 non-pressurized helium cells, equipped with advanced sensor systems. The 315-foot-long cargo hold is a structural compartment with dual sliding doors. A specially developed Diatex ultralight polyester textile serves as the outer skin. Initially, the LCA60T will use a combination of high-voltage lithium-ion batteries and turbine generators. However, Flying Whales plans to transition to hydrogen fuel cell power generation to reduce emissions and make it a more sustainable option. Flying Whales has formed strategic partnerships to bring its vision to life. Evolito is supplying 32 D250 electric motors, each producing 308 horsepower, for propulsion. The company has already raised more than $300 million in public and private funding and began wind tunnel testing of its outer skin material in late January 2025. The LCA60T's versatility opens up numerous possibilities. It can extract renewable wood from remote logging sites and supply materials for energy construction projects. The airship can also provide humanitarian aid, deliver cargo containers from land or ship and deploy temporary modular hospitals in underserved areas. Flying Whales' LCA60T represents a bold vision for the future of cargo transport. While the project faces significant technical and economic challenges, its potential to revolutionize logistics and connect isolated regions is undeniable. As the company progresses towards its 2027 flight testing goal, the world will be watching to see if this modern airship can truly take flight and usher in a new era of sustainable, accessible transportation. Do you believe governments and private companies should prioritize funding airship technology over other sustainable transportation solutions? Why or why not? Let us know by writing us at For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Follow Kurt on his social channels: Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions: New from Kurt: Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
