Airship Airlander 10 takes a page out of history for short-haul flights

HAV, which is marketing its Airlander 10 airship and aims to operate these flights by 2025, says it has a client in Swedish travel firm OceanSky Cruises, which will offer cruises over the North Pole

Certain designs are ageless or rather their basic design was perfected long ago. The airship  — a powered hot-air balloon — was frozen in design between the World Wars. These vehic­les could now be on the verge of making a commercial comeback, with the same basic designs modernised by the use of new technologies, and materials.

Consider this. A large vehicle that airlift lots of people and tonnes of cargo, almost silently and efficiently. It needs little power to move loads since it’s buoyant and moves through the low-friction medium of air. It can dock anywhere. It’s very eco-friendly. In