About 1,800 jobs are to be created in South Yorkshire, building 10 new environmentally friendly airships.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), a small Bedford-based company, announced on Wednesday that it had signed a deal to provide a Spanish airline with 10 of its Airlander 10 airships for 100 passengers filled with helium.
The plane, which the company says will have less than a tenth of the CO2 footprint of a jet passenger, will be built in a new green aerospace cluster in South Yorkshire.
Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, said the launch of Airlander shows that the UK is at the forefront of “revolutionary” greener aviation technology.
HAV’s futuristic Airlander 10 passenger transport with concept cab interior design. Photo: Hybrid aircraft
“Hybrid aircraft could play an important role as we move to cleaner forms of aviation, and it’s great to see the UK at the forefront of technology,” he said.
“This agreement increases the ability of the revolutionary, British-made and designed Airlander 10 to fly over the Spanish sky. This is further evidence of how businesses in the UK are adopting new technologies to boost growth and support high-skilled jobs in the UK.
The plane, which according to HAV will have a CO2 footprint of about 4.5 kg per passenger compared to about 53 kg per jet, is expected to take to the skies with Spanish carrier Air Nostrum in 2026.
Carlos Bertomeu, President of Air Nostrum, said: “Airlander 10 will drastically reduce emissions and that is why we have signed this agreement with HAV. Sustainability, which is good news for everyone, is already a fact that cannot be discussed in the day-to-day operations of commercial aviation. “
Possible routes for the Airlander 10 airship with 100 passengers include Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca. Photo: Hybrid aircraft
The airline, which currently operates flights to Iberia, did not specify which routes it expects to serve Airlander. HAV has previously said it expects to fly from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca in four and a half hours.
HAV, which in the past attracted funding from Peter Hambro, founder of Russian gold mining Petropavlovsk, and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, said his plane was “ideal for long-distance mobility applications like Liverpool to Belfast and Seattle to Vancouver, which Airlander can handle a small fraction of the emissions of current air options’.
Tom Grundi, CEO of HAV, said: “Airlander is designed to provide a better future for sustainable aviation services, enable new transport networks and provide opportunities for rapid growth for our customers. Our partnership with Air Nostrum Group, as a start-up airline for Airlander 10, is paving the way for this future.
The ship was originally designed as a reconnaissance vehicle for reconnaissance missions in Afghanistan. HAV claims that, according to independent estimates, the value of the airship market is $ 50 billion (£ 41 billion) over the next 20 years. It aims to sell 265 of its Airlander aircraft during this period.
The £ 25 million Airlander 10 prototype undertook six test flights, some of which ended poorly. He crashed in 2016 on his second test flight after a successful 30-minute first trip. HAV tweeted at the time: “Airlander suffered a landing damage during today’s flight. No damage to the air or to the telegraph pole was reported, as reported. “
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