Airship Ventures Announces First Flight Of New Zeppelin Will Enter Commercial Service In June

Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik and Airship Ventures announced this week the successful first flight of the fourth, and latest, Zeppelin NT airship over Friedrichshafen, Germany.

With construction of the fourth Zeppelin NT airship recently completed, the ship was handed over to the flight test department to begin the testing phase. The hangar doors opened and the airship left the 360-foot long hangar for the first time since the start of airframe assembly in March 2007.

"Being the fourth ship in our series production, we were able to incorporate a number of design improvements -- reducing weight while increasing lift and achieving a near doubling of airframe lifetime -- that make this our finest ship to date!" said Robert Gritzbach, Zeppelin VP of engineering.

Fritz Gunther, Zeppelin Flight Operations Manager and the first pilot to fly the new airship, said "This is the 3rd Zeppelin for which I have been part of the maiden flight, and feeling of pride in knowing all our hard work has resulted in success never diminishes. As a pilot, I look forward to confirming the new performance characteristics."

In the meantime, two pilots of Airship Ventures have arrived in Germany and are training with their new ship.

Earlier this month, Airship Ventures completed an $8 million Series A Preferred Stock financing, which has allowed the company to finalize preparations for commencement of operations in the US this fall.

FMI: Zeppelinflug, Air Ship Ventures

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