AIRSHIP APPLICATIONS IN THE ARCTIC: PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

• Main Author: Barry E. Prentice
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Northwest Territories
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.618.2830; http://www.dirigibili-archimede.it/docs/aiaa_airships_2003.pdf

Northern Canada represents a large potential market for a new generation of cargo airships. The needs of resource developers and native people are not well served by the ice roads and annual sealifts. The North needs better transportation, but the economic case for airships remains unproven. This paper presents a financial simulation model for the use of an 84 tonne airship to deliver fuel to a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. The model results are only as strong as its assumptions, but if an airship company can match or better the specifications used in this model, the fuel haul represents a real and growing market for their utilization.