Hybrid Air Vehicles announced on Wednesday it was planning to launch a string of routes and start commercial airship travel by 2025.
The UK blimp maker, which has developed a new environmentally friendly airship, claimed that its aircraft would cut CO2 emissions emitted when flying by 90%.
A journey by airship would take roughly the same amount of time as with an aeroplane once getting to and from the airport was taken into account, but would generate a much smaller carbon footprint.
The CO2 footprint per passenger would be 4.5kg compared to the 53kg via jet plane.
The routes for the 100-passenger Airlander 10 airship include Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca in four and a half hours.
Planned routes included Liverpool to Belfast, which would take five hours and 20 minutes.
Tom Grundy, HAV’s chief executive, who compares the Airlander to a “fast ferry”, said: “This isn’t a luxury product, it’s a practical solution to challenges posed by the climate crisis.
“We’ve got aircraft designed to travel very long distances going very short distances, when there is actually a better solution,” Grundy said. “How much longer will we expect to have the luxury of travelling these short distances with such a big carbon footprint?”
HAV said it was in discussions with a number of airlines to operate the routes and expected to announce partnerships and airline customers in the next few months.
