LONDON—The age of the airship is preparing for a new dawn.
More than a century after the first Zeppelins took to the sky, airship makers including Lockheed Martin Corp. say fresh commercial interest is reviving the fortunes of the giant flying machines.
Straightline Aviation Ltd., an aviation-services company in Stourbridge, England, has signed a letter of intent to acquire 12 new Lockheed Martin hybrid airships—280 feet long, able to carry 47,000 pounds of cargo—in a deal valued at about $480 million. The company plans to use the massive blimps to run air operations for oil-and-gas companies, transporting their equipment and commodities to and from remote locations, said Chief Executive Mike Kendrick, who once ran Virgin Airship & Balloon Co. for billionaire Richard Branson.
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