Page 21 - World Airnews Magazine October Edition 2020

TRAVEL

A FUTURIST FRENCH AIR

TRANSPORT SOLUTION

By Heidi Gibson

French company is working on providing an air transport
Asoluti on that has hints of the past but is defi nitely going
to be part of the future - a cargo airship that never has to touch
the ground.
Born out of a need to transport wood logs from inaccessible
areas, a French company called Flying Whales has designed a rigid
shaped airship similar to the Zepplin produced in the late 1800s in
Germany.
Measuring roughly the length of two Airbus A380s, the LCA60T

is filled with helium used as a lifting gas and powered by hybrid
electrical propulsion. The company is actively considering ways

to improve its carbon foot print in all aspects of the business. And
while the design might still undergo slight changes in essence it will

be an air cargo aircraft of the future.

“After Flying Whales exhibited at the Paris international air show
Le Bourget in the same hall just behind giants like Dassault and
Safran, people really started taking us seriously. They could see
that we are not a bunch of crazy people working from their garage
or a little start-up company. Our headquarters are in Suresnes near

Paris and we employ over 130 people,” said marketing manager

Pierre-Yves Fouillen
Started in 2012 by founder and CEO Sébastien Bougon the idea

for the aircraft had its beginnings in finding a solution to the need

for the French national forestry agency or Office Nationale des

Forêts to source wood from inaccessible locations.

The next year the company began operational, economic and

technical assessments and strategic partnerships with governmen-

tal organisations and this later led to public financing by the French
Public Investment Bank.
Then for the next three years the company worked on and came
up with the first conceptual design, looked at the finances and a set

up a large consortium of aerospace and industrial players.

In 2017 interested players began to make their commitments and
the company received funding from the Chinese company - Avia-

tion Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) who were also looking for
a similar solution. Two years later they were joined by the French

Canadian state of Quebec who were looking to provide a transport

solution for isolated communities in Quebec and Canada.

Today these entities form part of the shareholding of the com-

pany.
Then Région Nouvelle Aquitaine near Bordeaux signed an agree-
ment with Flying Whales and the company really began to expand.
“Other companies began to talk to us, such as wind turbine man-

ufacturers, interested in the LCA60T solution to transport blades,
or transmission system operators to service high voltage electrical
towers. We also thought that the LCA60T could be used for human-

itarian aid and disaster relief operations,” said Fouillen.
The airship has an important environmental component. Where
companies would normally have to look at building a road to trans-
port logs, thus leading to secondary problems like poaching and

deforestation as local communities gain access - the LCA60Ts can

transport the cargo by air. The airship requires very little infra-
structure like runways. With a payload of 60 tonnes that can be

transported in underslings or in the hold - companies will find this

solution quite enticing. Q
World Airnews | October 2020
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