Heavy-lift blimp manufacturer soars with new funding

A French company has secured funding to continue developing heavy-lift blimps.

Flying Whales is planning to build the LCA60T, a rigid airship for heavy load transport with a carrying capacity of 60 tons.

It has received 122 million euros in new funding from the French government, and other investors, including Investissement Québec. The Quebec government, through Investissement Québec, is already a 25 percent stakeholder in the project.

Flying Whales was founded in 2012 and is supported by a consortium of 40 French and Canadian aeronautical companies.

“Flying Whales is taking another step in its growth, where Quebec expertise will enable the development of a new generation of aircraft,” said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec’s minister of economy and innovation, and minister responsible for regional economic development.

“Quebec is a world leader in aerospace. We must focus on innovation to keep this strength here and create economic spin-offs here.”

Hard-to-reach areas

Originally designed to meet the needs of logging renewable wood resources in hard-to-reach areas, the LCA60T’s hovering loading and unloading characteristics will provide solutions for heavy-lift logistics challenges around the world, with a very low environmental footprint.

The blimp is 200 metres long and 50 metres in diameter. Its 60-ton payload will be contained in a 96- by eight- by seven-metre cargo hold that can be loaded and unloaded during flight.

Lift will be provided by unpressurized helium contained in rigid cells, and propulsion will come from seven different zones, enabling vertical take-off and landing. Maximum speed is said to be 100 km/h.

Currently the prototype blimps are operating on hybrid electric power, and will be fully electric once operational, the company said. The environmental footprint is also reduced by eliminating the need for ground-based loading and unloading infrastructure.

Operating company

This new funding will allow the company and its consortium to finalize the development of the LCA60T aeronautical program in France and Quebec, and to accelerate the work necessary to launch Flying Whales Services, an operating company.

“The aeronautical program and its industrial implementation are well underway, and the development activities for the future airline and airport company will be mature enough in 2023 to be spun off into a subsidiary,” said Sébastien Bougon, Chairman and CEO of Flying Whales.