Destination news
Start-up plans luxury trips to the North Pole - in an airship!
Dreamlike: from the cabin, travellers look directly down on the Arctic landscape below them.
© Source: Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd and Design Q
Those who want to travel to the Arctic often board a ship to do so. On board the "Airlander 10", however, passengers float over icebergs. The airship is scheduled to set off for the North Pole in 2024.
Iceberg ahead? No way! On board the "Airlander 10", the enormous ice colossi will soon be at travellers' feet. From 2024, the Swedish start-up OceanSky wants to offer the first flights to the North Pole with the airship. Interested parties can already reserve their place on board via the website. The price for the "Horizon" cabin, which seats two people: 2 million Swedish kronor - the equivalent of about 195,000 euros.
Luxury trip to the North Pole in an airship
But for so much money, travellers can also expect a lot of luxury. The interior of the airship is reminiscent of a five-star hotel; the "Horizon" cabin mentioned above measures about ten square metres and has, among other things, a bathroom with shower.
Dreamlike beauty: from the cabin, travellers look directly down on the Arctic landscape below them.
© Source: Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd and Design Q
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A renowned chef prepares an "Arctic menu". In the unpressurised cabin, panoramic windows and glass floors are installed - so that the up to 16 passengers of the "Airlander" have a perfect view of the Arctic landscape while they slowly and quietly float over it at an altitude of about 300 to 900 metres.
After all, the real purpose of this unusual journey is to get to know the North Pole better. And so the 36-hour excursion is also called an expedition on the website. The starting point of the route is Longyearyen on Spitsbergen - the northernmost settlement in the world!
Inside, the airship resembles a five-star hotel.
© Source: Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd and Design Q
To the North Pole and back in 36 hours
From here, the airship is scheduled to take off north at 6 pm and land at the North Pole at 9 am the next morning. With an expedition leader, the travellers will then explore the surroundings there before boarding the airship again in the afternoon and making their way back.
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The airship that will take travellers to the North Pole in the future measures just under 100 metres.
© Source: Darren Harbar Photography/Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd
OceanSky says the airship is designed to make air travel sustainable - and travellers using it "leave no CO₂ footprint". The "Airlander 10" is a hybrid aircraft and combines lift from the lifting gas helium with aerodynamic lift. Since the light airship requires only a fraction of the energy of other aircraft, non-fossil fuels can also be used.