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> There's no doubt they'll be big, but will they be practical, economically viable and successful? Frankly no. Its like every few years people remember about

> There's no doubt they'll be big, but will they be practical, economically viable and successful? Frankly no. Its like every few years people remember about airships and suddenly start shouting how its the answer to the world's problems. I mean, just search here on HN... 11 years ago there was "Blimpocracy - Is the airship the transportation system of the future?"[1] .... now here we are 11 years later, and, well, yeah ... The trouble is that the present system already works well. If it's not urgent, you can put tons of it on a massive ship. That ship can make multiple stops along the way. If it's urgent, you can put it on a plane. Modern airfreight is reasonably efficient and not that expensive. I really don't see what airships all bring to the party. Except perhaps being a slow-moving target for miscreants and bringing high-profile failures in newspaper headlines. As for the people who say combine AI + airships ... yeah, like that's going to seriously happen any time soon. AI can't even do FSD in a Tesla properly yet. Putting AI in an airship, in today's complex busy airspace, add in real-life weather conditions and real-life technical issues ... yeah, erm, thanks but no thanks. [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3000819 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3000819

djtango 4y ago
What about places with limited rail/roads like Alaska and Kazakhstan?
- jcranmer 4y ago
  In general, where there's limited infrastructure, there's limited demand for infrastructure. I can't speak for Kazakhstan, but most of rural Alaska is adequately serviced using tiny Cessna-sized aircraft for shipping, and the parts that aren't (say, Prudhoe Bay) already have existing ground and/or marine infrastructure to supply them.
- ghaff 4y ago
  As I recall, about 1/3 of the population of Alaska is in the vicinity of Anchorage which has a port and is connected to Fairbanks by road. Juneau, the third largest city, is also on the water--as are other cities in Southeast Alaska. Many other cities--such as they are (the 4th largest city in Alaska has a population of 20,000)--are also on the ocean.
- traceroute66 4y ago
  > What about places with limited rail/roads like Alaska and Kazakhstan? What about them ? If there's no cargo facility there already, then nobody's going to suddenly turn up and build an airshipport (or whatever you want to call it). The way modern day logistics works is like an inverse pyramid, you fly/ship/train in bulk somewhere, and then you go smaller and smaller scale to the remote/rural areas ... right down to a man on a bicycle or whatever. Cargo airships, IF they ever happen, are not going to change the fundamental way modern logistics works. Basic economies of supply and demand. Sending the man on the bicycle will always be the cheapest and most sensible option for remote areas where only a handful of people live, especially if they live many miles from each other (e.g. rural farming).
jodrellblank 4y ago
> "I really don't see what airships all bring to the party" Heavy lift. Put hundreds of tons of house(s) from a house factory or skyscraper level(s) from a skyscraper factory on them, airlift them to the building site around the country. Centralise most of the building work in one efficient scaled up factory, deliver an enormous buildings quickly piece by piece by air instead of slowly by having all the parts driven around windy roads and through closed city streets and assembled by a crews of people travelling to the building site and home every day.

djtango 4y ago

What about places with limited rail/roads like Alaska and Kazakhstan?

jcranmer 4y ago
In general, where there's limited infrastructure, there's limited demand for infrastructure. I can't speak for Kazakhstan, but most of rural Alaska is adequately serviced using tiny Cessna-sized aircraft for shipping, and the parts that aren't (say, Prudhoe Bay) already have existing ground and/or marine infrastructure to supply them.
ghaff 4y ago
As I recall, about 1/3 of the population of Alaska is in the vicinity of Anchorage which has a port and is connected to Fairbanks by road. Juneau, the third largest city, is also on the water--as are other cities in Southeast Alaska. Many other cities--such as they are (the 4th largest city in Alaska has a population of 20,000)--are also on the ocean.
traceroute66 4y ago
> What about places with limited rail/roads like Alaska and Kazakhstan? What about them ? If there's no cargo facility there already, then nobody's going to suddenly turn up and build an airshipport (or whatever you want to call it). The way modern day logistics works is like an inverse pyramid, you fly/ship/train in bulk somewhere, and then you go smaller and smaller scale to the remote/rural areas ... right down to a man on a bicycle or whatever. Cargo airships, IF they ever happen, are not going to change the fundamental way modern logistics works. Basic economies of supply and demand. Sending the man on the bicycle will always be the cheapest and most sensible option for remote areas where only a handful of people live, especially if they live many miles from each other (e.g. rural farming).

jodrellblank 4y ago

> "I really don't see what airships all bring to the party" Heavy lift. Put hundreds of tons of house(s) from a house factory or skyscraper level(s) from a skyscraper factory on them, airlift them to the building site around the country. Centralise most of the building work in one efficient scaled up factory, deliver an enormous buildings quickly piece by piece by air instead of slowly by having all the parts driven around windy roads and through closed city streets and assembled by a crews of people travelling to the building site and home every day.