Flying Whales

FLYING WHALES is a French company developing the LCA60T, a Large Capacity Airship with a 60-tonne payload, designed to open up landlocked and remote areas and reduce the environmental impact of cargo transport. Its stated purpose is to make the inaccessible accessible, and a consortium of some fifty industrial partners is involved in the design, production and future operation of the airship.

The LCA60T

• Rigid structure of composite materials covered by a textile skin, with internal cells holding 180,000 cubic metres of inert, non-pressurised helium
• 200 metres long and 50 metres in diameter, with a cargo hold 96 metres long, 8 metres high and 7 metres wide, plus the option to carry oversized loads under slings
• Hovering capability for loading and unloading without ground infrastructure, where the roads end
• Cruise speed of 100 km/h, operation up to 3,000 metres above sea level with full payload, and up to 4,000 kW of power, with all-electric propulsion based on hydrogen fuel cells planned
• Applications include heavy and oversized cargo, timber, construction, energy such as high-voltage lines, humanitarian aid and Flying Care medical missions

Industrialisation

FLYING WHALES is in the EASA certification process. Its first final assembly line, in Laruscade 50 km from Bordeaux in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, will be 65 metres high and 265 metres long and double as a ground and flight test site, with around 200 jobs per site. Production is planned first in France, then Canada and Asia, with twelve airships a year per assembly line. The company has separated FLYING WHALES Industry from FLYING WHALES Services, publishes a CSR report, has partnered with Mines Paris PSL and is expanding in Latin America.

Events

FLYING WHALES is listed as an exhibitor at Aeromart Toulouse 2026, Aeromart Montreal 2027 and the Paris Air Show 2027.

Contact

Flying Whales is listed under Aircraft Manufacturers, Air Cargo and is based in France.
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