Hovering on the Edge: Will airships go mainstream… again?

What’s it gonna take?

Until airships reach a critical mass, their role in the logistics sector will be limited by factors such as operational range and availability for time-sensitive operations. “I don’t know what that critical mass is,” said Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Daniels. “But it’s likely to be in the tens-plus of aircraft.”

Before Hybrid Air Vehicles can take on remote logistics, the company will have to build up a its knowledge, training, personnel and, most importantly, airships. “Once you have a critical mass, you can start flying into the middle of nowhere, because you know if there is a breakdown, or if your pilot has food poisoning, you can get a replacement because things always go wrong,” Daniels explained.

A few years back, Hybrid Air Vehicles commissioned an independent study that found that the current market could sustain 550 of its Airlanders, based on existing demand for particular tasks that the airships could assume, such as helicopter lifts and Hercules C-130 transports, which can land on dirt runways or ice. “We’re not going to compete with the Antonovs,” Daniels reiterated. “If there is existing infrastructure, we will not be as good value.”

Daniels expects the remote logistics market to open up for airships in five years and to grow from there over a 20-year period. “In the interim, we will do niche logistics to build up training and experience to have a credible and viable aircraft,” he concluded.

In the years ahead, Hybrid Air Vehicles and its competitors face a daunting task of training hundreds of pilots and technicians, and building or buying aircraft. This time around, there is serious investment behind the new generation of airships, and they are on track to be a fixture in remote logistics. The question is, will this momentum carry them into the mainstream?

That’s a question that only time will answer, but until then, those following this ambitious undertaking would do well to remember Daniels’ advice to “have patience. We’re going to get there, but it takes time.”

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