The global aviation revolution being plotted in regional Australia

 A French government-backed airship maker that has set its sights on revolutionising the cargo transport industry is planning to touch down in Ballarat.

The Flying Whales airship, using an updated version of a technology that dwindled to extinction after the Hindenburg went down in flames in 1937, is almost three times the length of an Airbus A380, and can take a 60-tonne payload – up to 12 times that of the largest-capacity helicopter.

This means it can pick up, transport and drop off huge wind turbines, fully assembled electricity pylons, field hospitals and shipping containers without any infrastructure required on the ground – a potentially significant saving of cost and time.

Flying Whales wants to make and test airships in Bordeaux, Montreal and Ballarat by 2025, and plans to set up an initial network of 160 bases worldwide, including 46 across a group of Asia-Pacific countries such as Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia. Eventually, it is envisioned that there will be more than 230 bases in the network.

https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/the-global-aviation-revolution-being-plotted-in-regional-australia-20240215-p5f52w