Airlander 10: Hundreds pay £750 each to become first passengers on helium airships due to be built in Doncaster
Hundreds of people have signed up to be among the first potential passengers on giant airships due to built in Doncaster – raising almost £1m for the company behind the plans in the process.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) intends to use a site in Doncaster called Carcroft Common to produce dozens of Airlander 10s, which are helium-filled airships capable of carrying up to 100 passengers. It is hoped the aircraft will be operational from 2029 and that their construction can create 1,200 jobs in South Yorkshire.
HAV has launched a crowdfunding initiative via the CrowdCube investment platform from which more than 450 people have collectively pledged over £820,000. For £750 each, people can secure a seat on an early UK flight, with two seats costing £1,250 and four seats £2,000.
It is part of a wider ongoing funding round for the company which has raised £1.9m in other investment separate to the CrowdCube page.
According to the company’s most recent accounts published in January, it has already secured £1.4bn worth of reservations for its Airlander 10 aircraft along with more than £140m of investment in development funding, including from the US Department of Defence, Innovate UK and the UK Regional Growth Fund.
But the same accounts state the firm requires more than $300m (£226m) of equity funding to break even and will require further investment rounds.
A spokesperson for the company told The Yorkshire Post: “We are very pleased with the interest and support of the crowd community so far, which has added to around £2m raised from our existing investors in this round.
"As we work towards closing a larger funding round to scale up production, we’ll use these funds for activities including continuing to advance sales in regional aviation and other markets; further developing our customer base for future larger aircraft; and responding to the changing defence environment in the UK, Europe and around the world.
“With the opportunity to be one of the first to secure a seat on an early Airlander flight, we think this is a really exciting time for new private investors to come on board.”
South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard has agreed to provide a £7m loan towards establishing the production site, with £1m provided so far.
The company is in ongoing discussion with Government in regard to £1.9m of previously advanced grant money through the Regional Growth Fund, with its recent accounts stating a job creation obligation for the money “has only been met in part due to delays to the company’s wider business plans”. A HAV spokesperson said discussions are continuing about repaying the funds over an extended period.
The HAV spokesperson said the company is “confident” it can bring Airlander craft into service in this decade.
They said: “Our leadership team, along with our investment advisor Jean-Michel Deligny, and Canaccord Genuity, are working to deliver the £310m institutional funding programme that is required to deliver a Type Certified Airlander 10 aircraft to market, for our customers.
"The plan is to deliver the overall funding needed in two stages. Outreach and investor engagement on the first stage, a £130 million round, is well underway and we can share further details as this develops.
"As we work towards closing this larger funding round to scale up production, we’ll use the funds raised on Crowdcube, alongside the funds raised from our existing investors, for activities including continuing to advance sales in regional aviation and other markets; further develop our customer base for future larger aircraft; and respond to the changing defence environment in the UK, Europe and around the world.”
The spokesperson added: “We are working to bring a whole new category of transport to the market. As a 65-strong team of innovators, we are incredibly driven by the vision of Airlander in our skies, connecting the unconnected with ultra-low emissions.
"Our journey has taken us from start-up, through flying a full-scale prototype, building a large customer base for our aircraft, and now moving into the aircraft certification programme. There are few companies in the world who have achieved these milestones. This gives us resilience and confidence to underpin our ambition to bring Airlander into production in the UK, delivering 24 large aircraft per year into a global export market.
“So, we are confident that we have the expertise, experience, and drive to deliver on our ambitions of seeing Airlander in service this decade. But we also recognise we are at a new frontier and of course there are risks.
"So for example everyone who invests through the crowdfunding round are made aware that this is a high-risk investment in which their capital could be lost. For those that choose to take that risk, we are delighted to have been able to offer them the opportunity to join us on this journey by owning shares but by also securing their seat on one of our early UK flights.”