The cost of fuels are rising and worries about the increasing emissions of CO2 makes some countries to look at the possibility of dirigible or airships as an alternative form of transport.

Why Fly when you can Float?

Airship is a very good form of transport for postal mails and such. It is still not an alternative for human transport though, partly because it does not have the ability to load many humans at one time. However, it is a really good device for sightseeing and the tourism industry.
I do hope that it can be floating across the Malaysia-Singapore border as it adds a whole lot of variety and beautify our skyline too.

“The aircraft industry is not exactly bracing for a dogfight. Mr. Massaud says that Emirates and Air France have expressed interest in Manned Cloud. But with top speeds of around 100 miles an hour and a maximum capacity of several dozen passengers, dirigibles are expected by most aviation experts to remain niche vessels for ferrying tourists, advertising and occasional scientific payloads.

France’s postal service, La Poste, has civilian uses in mind. Postal officials have long searched for alternatives to trucks and planes, aiming to reduce emissions by 15 percent by 2012. At a strategy meeting last year, officials decided to explore the use of dirigibles on routes between France and Corsica or French territories in the Antilles.”

“A dirigible, or rigid airship, has a metal frame, these days usually part aluminum, part carbon fiber, covered with a synthetic canvas. A blimp, in contrast, is a big, inflatable balloonlike sack filled with a lifting gas. Blimps are far less maneuverable than dirigibles and can lift less.

Today’s airships fly with helium, as did the Hindenburg until the United States imposed an embargo on what was then a fairly valuable commodity. Hence, the Hindenburg had to start using inflammable hydrogen on its flights. By the time of the explosion, zeppelins had carried about 405,000 passengers across the Atlantic.

Airships still have their skeptics today. In Britain, an effort to revive the airship industry suffered a setback in 2005 when the Advanced Technologies Group, which planned to build airships called SkyCats, with a 22-ton payload, went bankrupt. An investor group has recently sought to revive it. The Cyclocrane, a large semirigid airship, was to be built in Germany by the start-up Cargolifter, but the company ran out of money in 2002 after a huge hangar was built.”

“French political leaders are among those who believe the ships can do more than ferry tourists. For two years, Jean-Marc Brûlé, a Green Party leader and mayor of Cesson, near Paris, has shepherded through budget amendments to finance dirigible research.

“With global warming and the oil crisis,” he said, “It’s good sense to realize this dream.””

[from New York Times]