The Return of the airship?

In Cardington, Befordshire the world's longest aircraft has been unveiled and promises to cause a revolution. The aircraft, known as Airlander is being manufactured by UK company Hybrid Air Vehicles and is expected to be released into the market to fill a variety of roles.

Interestingly, the hybrid design of the airship means that 60% of the lift is provided by the helium filled balloon and the final 40% is provided by the shape of the balloon acting as an aerofoil. A benefit of using helium also is that it is inert which means that no repeat of the Hindenburg disaster is possible due to it not being possible for helium to catch fire.

The Airlander has the ability to land anywhere as long as it is reasonably flat and has enough space, this opens up the aircraft for use in disaster relief situations where airports might have been destroyed and remote areas cut off. Another benefit of this is that cargo can be delivered into the most remote areas, such as remote desert oil fields which, another market for the aircraft to sell to.

It is claimed that Airlander is 70% more green than current cargo aircraft with the ability to travel for days without refuelling, reaching far across the world at a time.

The US military had initially placed an order for the aircraft but due to the US budget squeeze it has had to cancel the project. The project would have seen Airlander flying at 20,000ft to gather intelligence in war zones. Due to the aircraft's endurance and range, Airlander could have stayed in one position for a long time studying movements on the ground and relaying the information back to base in real time.

Airbus to increase A320 production

An A320 with the new Sharklets

Airbus, Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer has announced that it is now increasing production of its most popular family of aircraft, the A320 family.

The increase will see production levels rise from 42 a month to 46 a month in a bid to clear a backlog of over 4,200 orders. The A320 family represents approximately 75% of Airbus's order book due to the short haul market being so large.

A significant amount of the orders for new aircraft are coming from the East and developing markets as wealth increases in these parts of the world. What we are seeing is the expansion of airlines such as Air Asia and Lion Air but also interestingly, American Airlines has broken with its tradition of an all American fleet by ordering new Airbus aircraft.

The announcement comes on the back of a recent rise in profits of 22%. This is however in contrast with main rival Boeing that could not assure investors that profits would rise by a similar amount. The A320's main competition in the market is the long in service Boeing 737 with both companies now attempting to develop more efficient versions of each. The A320neo (new engine option) has already received over 2500 orders with more to come no doubt. Boeing's competition to this is the 737 MAX family which is also more fuel efficient compared with older models.

The announcement will be welcome news across Europe as it will result in more jobs across Europe, potentially in the Bristol area, as Europe recovers from the Global Financial Crisis. Airbus is also aiming to deliver its first new wide bodied aircraft the A350-XWB to Qatar Airways which is Airbus's direct competitior to the Boeing 787 in terms of wide bodied fuel efficient aircraft.