Everyone loves a blimp story
A deal that could see airships in Canada's North in a couple of years is, hopefully, more than just hot air
by Michael Ganley
In September, we published Up, Up and Away, Duncan Kinney’s story on the future of airships as a means of transportation in remote locations. As much as the idea might seem like science fiction to some, the story was prescient. It turns out that Yellowknife’s Discovery Air is working on a contract with Britain’s Hybrid Air Vehicles that would see the two develop the first commercially-viable airships for Canada’s North. It would appear that everyone loves a blimp story: the CBC has covered it, as has The Huffington Post and even Wired.com. The idea is that new-generation airships can carry huge payloads long distances with a minimum of infrastructure – just what the North’s mining and oil and gas industries need. And as a story in our December issue will point out, since Alberta is the gateway to the NWT and western Nunavut, anything that is good for them is good for us. The project is still in its infancy, and Discovery Air is not far removed from some fairly significant financial problems, but it’s a story we will be following.
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