I have always been fascinated with airships/dirigibles/zeppelins and lamented their absence from the world’s transportation infrastructure. Much like nuclear power, their public perception has been tainted by high-profile accidents such as the crash of the Hindenburg. But, as the video above shows, airships face real engineering challenges making them less convenient and economically viable than available alternatives. While they are more flexible in terms of takeoff and landing and consume considerably less fuel than airplanes, they are also slower, less maneuverable in flight because their large aerodynamic profiles make them more susceptible to air currents, and have lower capacity for carrying people and cargo.
Over long distances, I don’t see airships ever competing with the speed of airplanes or the capacity and reliability of cargo ships. Nevertheless, they could offer alternatives on short hauls, where speed is of less importance, and to connect regions that are otherwise hard to access, since airships don’t require infrastructure investments such as landing strips, train tracks, highways or tunnels. They could carve a unique niche in the travel business as exclusive cruise liners slowly crossing scenic landscapes, from mountain ranges to deserts or jungles, to the poles, with minimal disturbance to the environment and more enjoyment for the passengers.
On a more concrete note, airships could ease supply chain shortages in busy ports. I imagine it would be possible to set up a fleet of airships to unload cargo from ships without even entering the port: if the port is too busy, ships could station outside, to provide a stable anchor for airships, which would lift cargo and move it to storage facilities on land – or even to other cargo ships! It would probably be slower, as airships would need to make multiple roundtrips to unload the entire cargo, but it’s better than just waiting around for days. One could also prioritize which cargo to offload via airship based on the urgency of the shipment, whether its perishable, critical to some project, in high demand, and so on.
A similar solution could help the current blockade in Ukraine, where wheat was usually exported by sea, but shipping it by train is complicated by different track systems between Ukraine and the rest of Europe. Airships could easily lift cargoes from the country and transport it directly to safe nearby ports – with the caveat of capacity, again; not to mention that airships would be easy targets for the enemy…
I remain hopeful that airships would become part of our transportation system, so that I may also get a change to travel in one of them at some point. For now, at least one airline is considering testing them on internal routes in Spain and has placed an order of ten Airlander 10 aircraft, scheduled to be delivered in 2026.
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