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Cargo airships could be big - Eli Dourado

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A lot of people think that the Zeppelin era ended merely because the Hindenburg erupted into flames in front of newsreel cameras, killing 35 of the 97 people on board in the inferno. While the 1937 accident certainly didn’t help, the writing was already on the wall for passenger airship service. In the late 1930s, airplanes were finally getting good. The DC-3, which is still technically in service today, was introduced in 1936. By 1939, you could cross the Atlantic in less than a day on Pan Am’s Boeing 314 Clipper. And after World War II, the Lockheed Constellation, with its pressurized cabin, 5,400-mile range, and 340-mph cruise speed took over the transatlantic market. Passenger airship demand was headed to zero no matter what. Airplanes won because they were faster. But there is another market that is not as sensitive to speed: freight. A shipping container doesn’t suffer detrimental health effects from sitting for hours on end. It doesn’t complain about yet another airplane meal. I

Cargo airships could be big A capital-intensive, high-risk way to revolutionize global commerce Eli Dourado Jan 30, 2023 114 5 Share UPDATE 2024-10-14: I got one assumption in this post wrong. Operating margins for airships could be much higher than I thought. I’m pleased to say that a new company formed around this insight. More info here . A lot of people think that the Zeppelin era ended merely because the Hindenburg erupted into flames in front of newsreel cameras, killing 35 of the 97 people on board in the inferno. While the 1937 accident certainly didn’t help, the writing was already on

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