Airship makers close in on cargo craft FREIGHT TRANSPORT

A 500-foot dirigible being built with new lighter materials by Aeros Corp. will be able to carry 66 tons of cargo at half the cost of a Boeing 747. A 500-foot dirigible being built with new lighter materials by Aeros Corp. will be able to carry 66 tons of cargo at half the cost of a Boeing 747. Photo: Worldwide Aeros Photo: Worldwide Aeros Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Airship makers close in on cargo craft 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Airship builders say the development of lighter, stronger materials will allow them to deliver on a century-old ambition of making craft capable of winning business from freight operators such as FedEx Corp. within three years.

A drop in the price of carbon fiber and advances in systems that can control the buoyancy of even the largest airships have also encouraged development of models to move goods faster than surface ships and at half the cost of a Boeing 747. A 500-foot dirigible being built by California's Aeros Corp. will carry 66 tons, according to founder Igor Pasternak.

Manufacturers must overcome industry skepticism about a mode of transport widely regarded as obsolete, together with a lingering fear of lighter-than-air travel that can be traced to the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, in which 36 people died when the airship was consumed by fire in New Jersey. Airship makers argue their products are a cheaper means to move many goods directly to the point of delivery.

"When it matures, the lighter-than-air industry will be as big as the fixed-wing sector, with a huge impact on freight movements," said Barry Prentice, professor of supply-chain management at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. "But I can't be sure that it's finally going to happen in my lifetime."

Commodity clients

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Airship manufacturers themselves are likely to be the first commercial operators in order to build confidence, he said. Commodities companies may be among early customers, Gary Elliott, chief executive officer at Britain's Hybrid Air Vehicles, said.

Airships, traditionally rigid-framed craft with a lifting capacity well in excess of blimps that maintain their shape through internal pressure, might also be used to supply oil rigs to remote locations, Elliott said.

The receptiveness of the market will become clearer later this year when Hybrid begins taking orders for its Airlander 50 model. Elliot is targeting the first commercial flight for the year after next. The company doesn't disclose a price for its product.

Any sales to airlines would probably follow interest from logistics specialists including FedEx, operator of the world's largest cargo carrier, and United Parcel Service, the No. 1 package-delivery provider, according to Prentice.

"These companies have tremendous needs for lift, and pressure on cost, so they would be likely customers," he said.

Hybrid says its Airlander will beat aircraft shipments on price, allowing it to win some flows even though an Atlantic crossing would take two days rather than eight hours. And while sea-freight will remain cheaper, an airship has the advantage of being able to cut out transfer consignments on trucks and trains, aided by the ability to take off and land vertically.

"The whole concept of transportation will adapt," said Elliott.

Checkered history

Germany's Zeppelin, which built the ill-fated Hindenburg, survives as Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik. It began developing semi-rigid airships in the 1990s and won orders for three craft from Goodyear in 2011 for delivery in 2014 to replace aging blimps, reviving a decades-old alliance.

The last large-scale effort to commercialize rigid airships failed in 2002 with the collapse of Germany's Cargolifter. While the company remains in business making more modest balloon-like craft, its gleaming white 19.4 million cubic-foot hangar that rises in a field south of Berlin is now used as a tropical amusement park.

Over the past decade, the Pentagon has provided momentum for airship development as it seeks lower-cost surveillance capabilities. The Hybrid Airlander 50, which features a multihulled, nonrigid design, is a cousin of the Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, which first flew in August and has been sold by Northrop Grumman to the U.S. Army.

The Airlander will measure 365 feet and feature a cargo compartment capable of handling standard containers, LD3-type aircraft boxes and other cargo forms.

Hybrid expects to set prices next month and needs 15 orders "to start cutting fabric," with an initial public offering planned if demand blossoms. Elliott said he'll avoid the overaggressive expansion strategy that undermined Cargolifter, with thousands of shareholders losing their investment as a result.

Challenges remain

Aeros is conducting indoor tests of its rival half-scale Aeroscraft model, with flights in the open planned for midyear. The Montebello (Los Angeles County) company is seeking $400 million to fund full-scale versions with a near-3,500 mile range, mainly from U.S. federal and state sources, with certification sought for 2015.

Still, development of a viable airship industry remains hobbled by outdated thinking among regulators that has its origins in the Hindenburg disaster, Prentice said, among them a ban on the use of hydrogen that makes the craft more expensive.

"There is a lot of legacy regulation that was passed 75 years ago that hasn't been updated," he said.