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Academic urges airship renaissance

People should travel more on airships to help combat climate change, an academic said on Thursday.

Michael Northcott, a professor of ethics at Edinburgh University, told a public meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that as airlines were a major emitter of CO2 in the transport sector, the technology of airship travel should receive a renaissance.

He argued that because airships can fly at half the speed of airplanes at over 200mph and at lower altitudes, passengers are able to enjoy the beauty of the earth during their journey.

"I have never heard of sustainable ways of flying airplanes," Professor Northcott said.

"The quantity of emissions of a jetplane flying at 47,000ft contribute to climate change and the effects are magnified at that high altitude."

He said that airships were a more sustainable way of flying and told his audience that the world must address its addiction to fossil fuels.

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