A Manitoba-built airship that could someday transport goods to remote northern communities, which now rely on sometimes impassable winter roads, has been unveiled.

The 25-metre, single-pilot MB80 — also dubbed Giizhigo-Misameg, which means "Sky Whale" in the Oji-Cree language — was inflated with helium and put on display Monday afternoon at the University of Manitoba's engineering school.

Those working on the Sky Whale, which will be air-tested from a hangar in St. Andrews, Man., in the New Year, believe the blimp-like prototype aircraft could be the future of shipping cargo to the North.

University of Manitoba Prof. Barry Prentice, who is leading the project, said the prototype is not meant to carry cargo. But if all goes well, much larger versions of the airship could transport tonnes of supplies, he added.

"If we had enough money, we would go ahead right now, but we don't even have a hangar big enough for a big airship," Prentice told reporters. "Without a hangar, you can't build an airship."

And just because the airship has not yet been flown in winter, doesn't mean it can't, he added.

"There hasn't really been a demand for it, so nobody's really worked on engineering an airship that'll tolerate cold temperatures so the rubber doesn't stick to the door when you're trying to open it and you can start it at –40 below," said Prentice, a professor with the Transport Institute at the university's I.H. Asper School of Business.

Winter transport alternative?

The airship is built by Buoyant Aircraft Systems International and ISO Polar, a non-profit research institute.

A view of the airship's gondola, which can accommodate the aircraft's pilot. (Sean Kavanagh/CBC)

Other partners in the project include Red River College and Manitoba Hydro.

Winter roads are temporary byways carved through bush and across frozen muskeg, lakes, rivers and creeks to temporarily connect those remote regions with the rest of the province.

They enable trucks to haul in a year's worth of supplies, such as food, fuel and construction materials, during the eight weeks they are open — unless mild conditions, a late freeze-up or an early thaw shorten that time as it did in 2010.

Graham Starmer, president of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, said governments must find new ways of shipping goods to northern communities.

"I think it's the government that's in a sticky position at the moment in how to resupply their communities, and millions and millions of dollars of roads will not do," he said.

Nearly 140 people had to be rescued from Manitoba winter roads in March of that year after the condition of the roads deteriorated into muck.