Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedford-based firm

Re:Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedfo... by pier25 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:41AM (#33163915)

> Decarbonizing short haul flights is great, but wouldn't trains be better suited for this purpose? Especially if you consider the extra infrastructure that needs to be built at airports which will be served by these airships - concrete production also generates a lot of CO2...

In terms of infrastructure wouldn't building railways, rail stations, and trains use a lot more resources and time?

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Re:Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedfo... by RugnirViking on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @11:08AM (#33164248)

I would be interested in an answer to your question because I suspect it may be less obvious than you think. It could go either way, especially given how rare airship handling equipment/staff is, not to mention helium gas & associated supply chain.

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Re:Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedfo... by TSiege on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:51AM (#33164024)

Short term vs long term. Trains will always be more energy efficient than planes. Once everything become electrified, we'll need to be smarter with what we use our energy for. Does it make sense to waste it on lifting something into the air or sailing it across metal?

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Re:Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedfo... by pier25 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @10:56AM (#33164105)

But these are not really planes?

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Re:Spanish airline reserves 10 Airlander airships from Bedfo... by throwaway894345 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @11:56AM (#33164949)

Term length matters since we have only a few decades to decarbonize. Moreover, bouyancy doesn't require energy to generate lift, so you can't make a naive "is it more efficient to sail across metal or lift into the air" comparison.

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