Airships Could Be the Future of Travel – Just Not for Humans

How often have you watched Batman: The Animated Series and yearned for our skylines to be filled with enormous blimps?

Just me? Either way, it feels like a promised future that was hardly attempted, let alone achieved. But that doesn’t mean a future filled with big-ass blimps isn’t possible. There are several companies around the world trying to make blimp travel a reality, including one founded by the former head of Google.

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The BBC’s Laura Hall dug into the next generation of blimp travel and all the reasons why its founders and funders believe in a mode of travel that seems both old-fashioned and futuristic in ways that even a catch-all term like “retro-futurism” doesn’t quite capture.

To be into airship development is to understand, fundamentally, that traveling by airship is a leisurely experience. Airships, blimps – whatever you want to call them – typically fly at speeds of around 100 to 130km an hour, which is around 60 to 80 mph. A commercial jet can go up to 580-ish miles an hour. You wouldn’t be taking an airship redeye from New York to Chicago to make it to your daughter’s wedding by the skin of your teeth. You fly on an airship because you want to soak in the sights, and now doesn’t that sound nice?

If you’ll entertain my newfound airship evangelism for a second: this slower pace is exactly why airships are much more energy-efficient than traditional commercial flights. With recent advancements in electric engine technology, airships also have greater potential for zero carbon emissions. They also don’t require runways. They just need a field big enough to land in. This makes airships intricately well-suited for landing on remote islands, connecting underserved areas, or even providing emergency aid in disaster areas where traditional infrastructure has been destroyed.

There are a few companies out there trying to bring airship travel to the masses. Sergey Brin is the former president of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. He runs an airship manufacturer called LTA, which stands for lighter than air. His airships use helium instead of carbon-emitting engines. For thrust, they use much smaller engines because you don’t need much power to push a balloon, even a really big one. He envisions LTA ships being used to transport cargo and humanitarian aid.

Hybrid Air Vehicles, or HAV, is a British company whose HAV Airlander 10 is a hybrid airship that emits 90 percent less CO2 than conventional aircraft, and can carry up to 90 passengers. It also looks like it was ripped straight out of a 1950s comic book, and is currently being tested in Spain to transport passengers from the mainland to nearby Spanish islands.

The dream of the airship is alive and well, just don’t expect them to compete with traditional commercial jet air travel anytime soon. If one day we make it to a future where airships dot our horizon, it’s probably because they’re transporting goods or allowing cruise ship passengers to take in the view with an evening cocktail.