Is this luxury Airlander the future of flying?
Is this luxury Airlander the future of flying?
Holidaymakers will be able to travel in luxury on the world’s longest aircraft, new designs show.
The part-plane, part-airship Airlander 10 will offer en-suite bedrooms, fine dining and seating areas boasting “horizon-to-horizon views”.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), which is developing the £25 million aircraft, claims it will open up opportunities for “luxury expeditions” to locations which cannot be reached by existing transport methods.
It is not yet known how much expeditions will cost.
It will be able to take off and land on “virtually any flat surface” without the need for traditional infrastructure such as ports or airports, according to the company.
HAV chief executive Stephen McGlennan said: “Air travel has become very much about getting from A to B as quickly as possible.
"What we’re offering is a way of making the journey a joy.”
Airlander 10 is 302ft long, 143ft wide and 85ft tall, with a cabin that is larger than most single-aisle aircraft.
HAV believes it could be used for a variety of functions in addition to leisure trips, such as surveillance, communications, delivering aid and search and rescue missions.
In August 2016, its cockpit was severely damaged when the aircraft nose-dived and crashed during a test flight.
The aircraft then collapsed in November last year after coming loose from its moorings.
Both incidents happened at its former base at Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire.