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Fly around the world in style on the 870 foot tall Aircruise luxury airship

by Scott Carmichael (RSS feed) on Feb 7th 2010 at 11:30AM

Every couple of years, someone makes the news with their announcement of a concept airship design that will "revolutionize the way we travel". This time, the design comes from London based design firm Seymourpowell.

Their concept for airship travel is huge - 870 feet tall. capable of lifting 396 tons and offering penthouse apartments, bars and huge glass floors.

The ship has been named "Aircruise", and (on paper) it should be able to carry 100 people from London to New York in 37 hours. The idea is that "slow is the new fast", which is just a cool marketing trick to make you ignore the fact that the trip will take 27 hours more than by plane.

Even though the design is still in its very early stages, Samsung has shown interest in the design, and is working with Seymourpowell on computer aided simulations. My only concern (besides the fear that this thing will never actually be built) is the choice of gas for the lifting bags on the Aircruise - Hydrogen (the same gas that kept the Hindenburg in the air).

Update: Dan Grossman from Airships.net has published a comprehensive article about how the entire "Aircruise" concept is nothing but nonsense. Thanks to Dan for his side of the story and insight into the reality of the airship world.