UK hybrid airship pioneer sets its sights on low carbon regional flight

In November 2017 - following a series of increasingly ambitious and successful test flights - Airlander 10, the giant UK developed hybrid air vehicle attempting to breathe fresh life into the romance of lighter than air travel, experienced the kind of setback that will be depressingly familiar to aerospace pioneers throughout the ages.

Escaping its moorings at its base in Cardington, Bedfordshire, the giant 92 metre long aircraft performed an emergency deflation, crumpling to a heap on the grass of the iconic airfield and - with a depressing inevitability for those working on the project - prompting a flurry of headlines inviting unfair comparison with the great airship disasters of the past.

Now, just over three years on, and after a period out of the public eye spent refining and optimising its design, the company behind the technology - Bedfordshire-based Hybrid Air Vehicles - is once again poised to have a crack at ushering in the lighter than air transport revolution.