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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Discovery Air Inc.'s plan to bring a developing line of heavy-lift, blimp-like air vehicles to the North has gone limp.

An artist's rendering of the heavy lift air vehicles Discovery Air Innovations Inc. plans to purchase from British lighter-than-air aircraft manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd. - illustration courtesy of Discovery Air Inc.

The company announced Aug. 6 that it let a commercial agreement struck last fall with U.K.-based lighter-than-air aircraft manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd. expire, which would have had the 50-tonne capacity, hybrid airships produced and delivered by 2014.

"We had a series of options to purchase a heavy lift version of their technology and we've made the decision at this time not to exercise those options," said Garry Venman, vice-president of government services for subsidiary Discovery Air Innovations.

The anticipated investment and return on investment for the $40 million dollar vehicles was not close enough to meet the company's objectives, Venman said, after considering the time it would take for the design to be finalized, the certification process, and getting the project commercialized.

"It's not that we don't believe that the technology has significant potential," Venman added. "We believe it could revolutionalize air transportation into remote regions, like for example Canada's North."

The vehicles were to be designed with the ability to deliver cargo on land, water, ice and snow, with no need for a runway.

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