Pie in the sky? No, it’s an airship built in Yorkshire! Fleet of 10 eco-friendly aircraft with carbon footprints per passenger less than a TENTH of a jet will be built in UK
- The Airlander 10 machines will be assembled in a green aerospace cluster in South Yorkshire from this year
- Ten of the eco-friendly airships – which are filled with helium – will be delivered to a Spanish company
- They £25m airships will carry 100 passengers and can cruise at up to 90mph with a 4,600 mile range
- They are expected to take four hours to fly from Barcelona to Majorca according to the airline Air Nostrum
It’s not the first place you might associate with revolutionary developments in aviation, but South Yorkshire is where a fleet of eco-friendly airships are to be built.
Ten of the giant Airlander 10 machines will be assembled in a green aerospace manufacturing cluster in the county, creating 1,800 jobs.
Though they look rather like sleeker versions of the German Zeppelins that took to the skies more than a century ago, they are filled with helium rather than the highly flammable hydrogen.
Ten of the £25million Airlanders are being built by Bedford-based Hybrid Air Vehicles under a deal with Spanish airline Air Nostrum. Production is to start this year, with delivery from 2026. Flying from Barcelona to Majorca could typically take four hours
Ten of the giant Airlander 10 machines will be assembled in a green aerospace manufacturing cluster in the county, creating 1,800 jobs
Carrying 100 passengers at 90mph, the Airlander cannot compete with a jet aircraft in terms of speed and capacity.
But the secret to its potential success is the eco-friendly technology that means it will have a carbon footprint per passenger that’s less than a tenth of a jet. Ten of the £25million Airlanders are being built by Bedford-based Hybrid Air Vehicles under a deal with Spanish airline Air Nostrum. Production is to start this year, with delivery from 2026. Flying from Barcelona to Majorca could typically take four hours.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: ‘This agreement enhances the possibility of the revolutionary, British-made and designed aircraft flying across Spanish skies.’
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