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Canadian North, Flying Whales To Study Cargo Airships

Graham Warwick July 06, 2023

Remote Northern Canada is a key target market for Flying Whales’ LCA60T large cargo airship.

Credit: Flying Whales

Canadian North Airlines has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Flying Whales to study the potential for operating large cargo airships in Northern Canada and the High Arctic.

French company Flying Whales plans to develop and operate the LCA60T, a 200-m-long (660-ft.) rigid airship with a payload capacity of 60 metric tons. The startup raised €122 million ($133 million) in July 2022, including funding from the French, Monaco and Quebec governments. 

With Investment Quebec, the company has established Montreal-based subsidiary Flying Whales Quebec to lead development of the LCA60T. Flying Whales plans to fly the first LCA60T in 2025 and aims to manufacture 150 aircraft in the next 10 years.

In April, Flying Whales Quebec selected Honeywell to supply a 1-megawatt generator to power the hybrid-electric LCA60T. The turbine-based 4-megawatt powertrain will enable the airship to take off and land vertically and hover for loading and unloading.

Canadian North is an Inuit-owned airline with expertise in northern operations and its collaboration with Flying Whales will explore how Inuit communities could benefit from freight and logistic transportation to remote communities and the operating conditions airships would face in the region.

Flying Whales has also signed a strategic partnership with Korrey Project Logistics (KPL), the project arm of Asia-based global freight forwarder Kerry Logistics. KPL specializes in large-scale industrial resupply projects and says airships could better support logistics in complex environments.