Look, up in the sky: Zeppelin company Airship Ventures raises $8M

May 9, 2008 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

This fall, if our San Francisco Bay Area readers spot a zeppelin overhead, don’t worry — you haven’t been caught in a time warp. It will just mean that a startup called Airship Ventures has succeeded in bringing the zeppelin (an icon of 1930s aviation) back to the United States. The company just raised $8 million in a first round of funding.

Specifically, Airship Ventures plans to offer zeppelin rides out of Moffett Field. If the company follows through on its plans, it will bring the first zeppelin to Moffett Field since 1947. In a few months, Airship will operate a single Zeppelin NT based in Moffett’s Hangar 2, which was built by the Navy to house zeppelins in 1942.

The funding will allow Airship to actually complete the purchase of its first vehicle. Apparently, at 246 feet in length, the Zeppelin NT will be 50 feet longer than the largest blimp, and will hold up to 12 passengers. Similar airships are already operating safely in Japan and Germany, the company says.

Airship will offer its rides for “flightseeing” tours (yes, that’s what they call them), as well as media and science operations. Apparently, flights will be available for between $250 and $500, around the same price as a ride in a hot balloon.

The funding comes from six individuals, including noted tech commentator Esther Dyson. On her blog, Dyson praised the company a year ago as “an absolutely fantastic idea, both in the positive sense and as in ‘pure fantasy’.”

Airship is led by the wife-and-husband team of Alexandra and Brian Hall. Alexandra Hall was previously the head of the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, Calif.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • There was a plan to use zeppelins for heavy transports in Germany

    The plan did not work out, because the technology was too expensive.
    They have even build a huge hangar that is now a giant indoor spa near Berlin.
  • Rymo
    The article doesn't mention if the the blimp is inflated with hydrogen,helium, or something else. That might be the deciding factor for those of us who are considering taking a ride, but are concerned with being burned alive.
  • dirigible diva
    airshipventures.com and the FAQ section will tell you what you need to know. It's Helium.
  • Except real zeppelins were 500-600feet in length. This is just a blimp and scam marketing before the product is even available.
  • dirigible diva
    You can fly on a Zeppelin in Germany and Japan and the US ship has her first flight in a couple of weeks according to the airshipventures blog before traveling to Europe and then to the USA. Very real indeed. It's a real Zeppelin, made by Zeppelin, even if it isn't as long as the airships of old. It's new technology. And it has an airframe, so its not a blimp.
  • Clearskies
    Please tell me this won't be a flying billboard I have to look at every day...Are they planning on plastering the Zepplin with advertising?
  • Lee Bonham
    Perhaps rural small town America , that has a great deal of trouble obtaining any kind of air service to te nearest hub, should look to San Francisco for a solution to their problems. Small communities working together to purchase and operate a Zepplyn service to the nearst hub seems to make sense.
  • Chris Scott
    Guys search on Zeppelin NT you will find DeBeers diamond company were using one in Botswana [next country up from South Africa] to search for dimonds for over a year before it was damaged in a storm. They have many uses apart from pleasure flights. The rigid framework is carbon fibre. You can lift a sample at the Zepp museum in Germany also a sample of the old metal frame to the 1930's ships. The new is much lighter and stronger. Wish I could get from South Africa to ride in this one. I did see the de Beers ship though. Wow.
  • One of the above comments described the Zeppelin NT as a "blimp". The NT is definitely NOT a blimp. It's construction is more akin to the semi-rigids of the early airship era, like the Norge. The Hindenberg, Graf Zeppelin and other rigids had an exoskeleton of light metals used in aircraft construction which contained several mammoth gas cells for lift. The pure rigids were more prone to breaking up in severe weather when the rigid outer skeleton became overstressed. The was the fate of our U.S. Navy's Macon and Akron. The Zeppelin NT theoretically combines the best of two construction methods: The elongated gas bag with control car hanging from its bottom construction of the blimp and a rigid framework akin to a spine to which are attached the car for passengers and crew accomodation, propulsion systems and other mechanicals. It is believed that the Zeppelin NT's construction allows it to be enlarged indefinitely (unlike blimps whose construction limits their size) and that this is the intention of the Zeppelin Company once the Zeppelin NT has won widespread acceptance and usage.
  • Zeplover
    I can see many uses for the new Zeppelin such as hard to reach areas after an earthquake. even wit it's limited size it could hover over an area and drop medical supplies and perhaps even help evecuate the injured. Being able to stay in the air for up to 24 hours would allow it to become a command center.
    Most of all the dream of someday riding across the country eating a fine meal and sleeping in a tiny cabin would be wonderful.
  • Bill Clark
    I had the pleasure of a "flightseeing" trip up the River Thames passing over Greenwich, The O2 Dome,Tower Bridge,The Tower of London,The London Eye , Westminster Abbey, The Houses Of Parliament and many more landmarks of London before the Zeppelin was shipped, via Rotterdam, over to the USA. A truly wonderful experience and I would expect all of you who will look down on San Francisco will be equally thrilled with the experience. Once up to 1000 feet we were able to walk around the cabin and take photo's out of an open window to produce remakable photo's to remember the experience. I envey all of you who now have that privilage over San Francisco.
  • edhardy622
    British law student sues Abercrombie-Fitch for disability discrimination.
    http://www.abercrombieonsale.co.uk