Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Business

Lockheed Lands Airship Deal as Oil Industry Spurs Blimp Revival

  • Straightline Aviation signs outline agreement to take 12 craft
  • Model pitched as ideal in areas lacking ground infrastructure
Lockheed Martin's LMH1 airship.

Lockheed Martin's LMH1 airship.

Source: Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Corp. won an order for as many as 12 airships worth $480 million as lower crude receipts spur cost-conscious oil and gas companies to consider aircraft able to carry workers and cargo to remote locations without the need for hefty investment in runways and roads.

Deliveries to Straightline Aviation will begin in 2018 and span about two years, with the U.K. company saying it’s talking with potential users including Alaskan oilfields that have struggled to secure backing for new ice highways.