The Airship transport alternative, in its diverse engineering variants, has the potential to be a game-changing technology with significant development in recent years. It 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 (SIDS). This is particularly important in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as in the event of a disaster, different aid agencies are deployed with support in the distribution and logistics of perishable and essential cargo, equipment, and assistance personnel. This innovative mode should be incorporated into the transport matrix (both nationally and regionally), for the latter to move towards more efficient, sustainable, and resilient networks.
This report discusses the use of airship in the context of transport connectivity in SIDS and their vulnerability to disasters and associated challenges. The report presents the state of the airship´s technology, its flexibility, advantages, and study cases. It highlights a series of competitive advantages of airships for improving connectivity in SIDS and for addressing humanitarian, sanitary and environmental challenges across the local, regional, and global scales, as a resilient and sustainable logistics solution in synchro-modality with other modes of transport.
The document has been prepared as part of the activities of the UNDA project “Transport and trade connectivity in the age of pandemics: Contactless, seamless and collaborative UN solutions”. It was jointly prepared by the ESCAP Transport Division, in cooperation with the ECLAC International Trade and Integration Division, Infrastructure Services Unit.