The Hybrid Airship transport alternative has the potential to be a game changing technology with significant development in recent years. The aim of this technical note is to help raise awareness on airships as an innovative mobile services technology.
The Hybrid Airship transport alternative offers the technical capabilities to make a broad contribution to the optimization of mobility and logistics networks in isolated communities and territories, especially but not only in Small Island Developing States.
This topic is of significant importance in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the event of a disaster, different aid agencies are deployed with support in the distribution and logistics of perishable cargo, essential cargo, equipment and assistance personnel. The economic capacity and the transport accessibility -connectivity- of the regions directly influence countries’ capacity to face a disaster. Disasters usually have local effects and the area affected depends on the type of the natural hazard. Some of them, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have a global impact, presenting a significant challenge for the transport and logistics industry.
The aim of this technical note is to help raise awareness on airships as an innovative mobile services technology that presents a series of competitive advantages for improving connectivity in SIDS and that can serve as a response for humanitarian, sanitary and environmental challenges across the local, regional and global scales, as a resilient and sustainable logistics solution.