Next year, 2026, British airships look set to be carrying UK tourists to Mallorca. As the Bulletin has been reporting, Spanish airline Air Nostrum last year doubled its order for a new fleet of British airships it intends to use on short haul flights to and from the Balearics and other parts of Spain and it may not be long before British tourists are travelling to Mallorca on board the Airlander 10 - nicknamed the “Flying Bum” due to its distinctive shape - the date for launch is now set for 2026.
And, it has recently been announced that Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) has begun survey and preparatory work for the Airlander 10 production site in South Yorkshire. This follows work in partnership with the City of Doncaster Council to prepare for the release of the first instalment of a £7m loan from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
Airlander 10, HAV’s first aircraft to market, will be capable of delivering 100-seat passenger mobility, or a ten-tonne payload of freight transportation, or a combination of the two. The company’s 50-hectare site at Carcroft Common, Doncaster, which was announced in partnership with City of Doncaster Council (CDC) earlier this year, is planned to house flagship facilities for Airlander 10’s production, testing and certification operations, and have the capacity to produce up to 24 aircraft per year.
It is also expected to establish new supply chains within the South Yorkshire Investment Zone and open up more than 1,200 new, highly-skilled green jobs in the region. The Airlander is a hybrid aircraft which derives its lift from a combination of aerodynamic lift (like an aeroplane), lifting gases (like an airship) and vectored thrust (similar to a helicopter). Airlander generates up to 40% of its lift from aerodynamics by the passage of air over the hull and the remainder from buoyant lift from the helium.
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It will never happen.