How airships could provide the future of green transport

An academic paper from the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis In Austria proposes using the Jet Stream to transport cargo on transcontinental routes without any need for power beyond the initial lift and descent. The cargo ships would float on high winds above 40,000 feet at an average speed of 160 km/h, displacing fleets of container shipping at sea. The study claims that they would cut fuel use by 96pc.

The circular flow would always be from West to East – Shanghai to Los Angeles, New York to London, or Frankfurt to Mumbai – rotating in a perennial circuit. It would take eight days to cross half the world by the northern Jet Stream, and seven days by the southern route, beating maritime shipping on time as well as emissions.

These unmanned super-Hindenburgs controlled by artificial intelligence could be over a mile long, spectral airships passing far overhead in caravans along regulated bands near the troposphere, emitting no sound or CO2.

Hybrid Air Vehicles needs to raise another £120m to get going, with a target of building 40 airships a year and employing 2,000 people in the supply chain, possibly around the hydrogen cluster in Teesside. It is currently crowd-funding from green enthusiasts, often wealthy. “We’ve had a fantastic response,” says Mr Sinclair.

There is competition. The French company Flying Whales has secured $23m of funding from the government of Quebec for helium dirigibles to supply the vast expanses of the Grand Nord. Lockheed Martin is developing its own cargo airship, part hovercraft, part zeppelin.

The UK start-up Varialift Airship had less luck than Hybrid Air in securing help from the UK Government for its aluminum freight ship, so it turned to France instead. “I hoped that England would be the centre of the hub, but they frowned on us when we were looking for sites,” says Alan Handley, the company’s founder and chairman.