Asia, Arctic, archipelagos
Several new partnerships for airship developer Flying Whales. The French airship developer Flying Whales was pleased with its news at Breakbulk Europe (see ITJ Daily of 20 June 2023). At the Paris Air Show then, things went from strength to strength. The firm’s new partnerships range from Asia to Mayotte and Canada.
The company Flying Whales is in the process of developing its LCA60T airship, which it is designing as suited to handling particularly large and bulky goods too. The first flight of the unit is planned for 2026.
In this context the company signed an agreement at the Paris Air Show in June with Kerry Project Logistics (KPL), the project freight division of Hong Kong-based services provider Kerry Logistics.
Bruce Boudailler, KPL’s global sales director, hopes that “this could be the beginning of a beautiful partnership.” Flying Whales sales manager Florian Lannou, in turn, believes his firm’s innovative and sustainable air logistics solutions will address KPL’s special needs in the energy and construction sectors.
Limited transport options on islands
In other news from Le Bourget, the company signed an mou with the airline Canadian North. The agreement will explore the potential for Flying Whales’ solutions under Arctic operating conditions in northern Canada, and assess how Inuit communities can benefit from the LCA60T’s minor logistics infrastructure requirements.
Michael Rodyniuk declared that “we’ll provide Flying Whales with detailed information based on our 77 years of experience in the region.” For the president and chief executive officer of the Ottawa-based airline, the French airship is “the best and most advanced unit for our activities in Canada.”
In August Flying Whales also entered into dialogue with the Agence de développement Internationale de Mayotte (Adim) in the French overseas department of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
Adim CEO Mamadou Konaté is convinced that “in the search for innovations in mobility this freight solution deserves our detailed attention, as the use of conventional overland transport options is naturally limited on islands.”
Establishing an airship route network that would connect island systems regionally could thus ensure year-round supply-chain security even for remote areas.