Belfast to Liverpool airship proposal floated

Plans have been laid out for an innovative way to link the cities of Belfast and Liverpool by an airship-type craft.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), a company based in Bedford, is proposing the mode of air travel as an environmentally-friendly alternative to aeroplanes.

It has proposed a number of short-haul routes that could begin by 2025.

Included among these is a journey between Belfast and Liverpool, the Guardian has reported.

The company has estimated that one of its Airlander ships could take 90 passengers while emitting 90% less carbon dioxide.

The company has projected that flights would be in the range of what is currently paid by those travelling the same journeys, and it would not be a luxury service.

Speaking to BBC News NI, HAV's chief executive Tom Grundy said changes during the Covid-19 pandemic had moved the conversation within the aerospace industry.

During the pandemic, while flights were grounded, a positive environmental effect was noted.

"It's not going to be affordable or acceptable for very much longer to have these really fast aeroplanes given the convenience of flying really, really short distances," he said.

"That discussion has gone from being quite hard, to being quite easy."

He said since being founded in 2007, the company had made the case for "rethinking the skies", and finding a middle point between high-speed flights and slower overland transportation.

In the past 14 years, the company has spent about £140m developing the technology.

Currently there are no airlines operating this type of transport in the world, and Mr Grundy said the first to adopt the technology "is going to be an example for the rest of the industry to follow".

He noted that while the Airlander is similar to an airship, its technology is fundamentally different, and the fact it is heavy enough to come down and land makes it much more practical.

Currently none of the routes have start dates, but rather have been produced as examples.

Between Belfast and Liverpool, the company estimates the journey would take five hours and 20 minutes, which it compares to nine hours and 23 minutes for a similar journey by ferry.

Mr Grundy said the next stage of the operation is discussions with investors and transport providers, with production then starting on the Airlander craft.

Once production begins, the company expects to create around 500 aerospace jobs.

Mr Grundy was not able to say where these jobs will potentially be located or if Northern Ireland is in contention, but he added "that we are very aware of where the skills bases in the UK are".

"We are active in conversations with regions who have got those skills bases, and welcome all of those conversations because this is a big prize."

The proposed route would not be Northern Ireland's first brush with airship-type crafts.

During World War One, Bentra Golf Course in the seaside town of Whitehead on the County Antrim coast was the site of an airship mooring station.

It served as a key location in the fight against German U-boats.

During the 1990s, the potential use of airships for surveillance was examined by the Ministry of Defence.

More recently, think tank the Legatum Institute suggested possibly using drones or airships to monitor the Irish border after Brexit.

The idea was raised in a 2017 paper examining how the UK and EU could resolve the border issue.