2002

At the «expo02»

With the conclusion of an advertising contract with Interdiscount in December 2001 for the Swiss national exhibition “expo02” taking place from May 2002, Skyship Cruise AG put itself under enormous pressure. Shortly before the end of 2001, the purchase contract for the Skyship 600 was signed. The manufacturer now had the task of building the airship within three months. This took place in Cardington (UK), in one of the two time-honored hangars from the First World War era.

The ship then had to be flown across the English Channel and France to Neuchâtel for the expo02. The airfield and the municipality of Colombier generously granted the company hospitality for the duration of the national exhibition in during the summer of 2002 and SCL was extremely challenged with setting up the operational capability. Nevertheless, the ship was transferred from England on time, exactly on the opening day of expo02, and the passenger service was launched.

Overflight Cardington – France – Jura – Neuchâtel:

Pünktliche Ankunft am Vortag der Eröffnung:

Roundtrips at the expo02:

For the company management, the question quickly arose as to how and where things could continue in 2003. While the Skyship was flown over to the huge Cargolifter hangar in Brand for annual maintenance and wintering, the administration was looking for a permanent base for sightseeing flight operations in Switzerland. The plan was that this would enable SCL to register the Skyship in Switzerland. Until then, it had been operating under US registration.

2003

Roundtrips in Buochs / Ennetbürgen

The search over the fall and winter for a location for the coming 2003 was challenging. Only Dübendorf still had sufficient space and would have been ideally suited. However, Zurich’s historic airfield had only been a military base since the late 1940s, and the neighboring communities of Dübendorf, Wangen-Brüttisellen and Volketswil refused to allow any civilian use for political and precedent reasons. The refusal was justified on environmental and noise protection grounds.

NOISE PROTECTION

Speaking of noise protection: SCL wanted to know exactly. An inquiry regarding measurement methods for noise protection and the potentially negative effects of the Skyship on the noise index of Dübendorf airfield (and thus the expected impact on the surrounding communities) led to laughter from the EMPA employee responsible. This would not be reflected in the index at all, because the main factors, apart from the noise level itself, are the frequency of exposure and its duration. And that simply doesn’t count against the take-offs of military jets such as the FA-18. He didn’t even need to do the Maths.

This turned out to be the case, as the FOCA officer later informed us that of the two overflights at different altitudes prescribed for the measurement, the higher one could not be measured because the highway alongside it was too loud and the measurement therefore had to be extrapolated from the lower measurement.

There were now two options left: Interlaken and Buochs, both former military airfields.

Interlaken reacted negatively, saying that the space was reserved for other plans, namely for the “Mystery Park”. It would actually have been possible for the two sites to coexist, but it was expected that the great future of the park would not allow this.

SCL finally found what it was looking for at Buochs airfield. A base near Ennetbürgen could be set up thanks to the goodwill of the cooperative farmers corporation, the local council and the support of the Cantonal Government and the Department of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Nidwalden.

The base on the former Buochs military airfield near Ennetbürgen:

SCL had thus found a base for airship operations – albeit again only temporarily as a trial operation. This site, on the territory of the corporation of Ennetbürgen, was ideal for a round trip operation in many respects: without long journeys, at the foot of the Alps in the middle of the most attractive landscapes in Switzerland, the site was a real tourist magnet, which was reflected in enthusiastic comments in the guest books.

Aus dem Schiff:

The summer was successful and passed far too quickly, as the airship trips could only be carried out until October at the latest, depending on the contract and weather conditions.

Skyship at and around Buochs:

Saisonende:

The ship N-605SK spent a second winter in Berlin together with its sister ship N-601SK, which SCL had bought from Cargolifter AG in the meantime.

Winter storage and maintenance in the Cargolifter hangar:

The Cargolifter Hangar

The huge and fascinating hangar was completed in November 2000. It is 360 m long, 210 m wide and 107 m high, making it the world’s largest self-supporting structure. The doors are constructed as opening segments. It is said that the central spike in the pivot point of the gates has to be replaced after 10 openings for safety reasons at a cost of €150,000. This means that each opening costs €15,000. Because of the huge air masses, both sides have to be opened at the same time and “localized weather” can develop inside the hangar due to condensation because of the enormous height.

The hangar is now used for other purposes by “Tropical Island”, a theme park in the style of the South Seas.

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2004

The year at the Olympics

As in the previous year, it was to be expected that the FOCA (Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation) would only grant the operating license at the last moment towards the end of May 2004. This was a problem for a commercial operation in that, on the one hand, no advance sales could take place for legal reasons (e.g. Christmas business) and, on the other hand, the season was far too short.

At the same time, SCL hoped that this would raise its profile. In retrospect, it must be said that the decision was politically wrong and that it would have been better to concentrate on the continuous development of the Ennetbürgen site.

The crossing to Athens was a logistical and operational challenge for SCL with its limited resources. Among other things, it was the first time that an airship had crossed the Gotthard Pass.

First crossing of the Gotthard Pass by airship:

But, because nobody knew in advance whether the Alpine crossing mission would be a success,SCL kept everything on a low boil regarding media. Only the US magazine “Flying” got wind of the matter and was involved. It documented the trip in the Dec. 24, 2004 issue, albeit with many exaggerations:

Along the Adriatic coast to Athens:

The operation at the Olympics in Athens was a great success and attracted a lot of international interest, even as far away as China, with a view to the next Olympics in Beijing. But the response in Switzerland remained rather modest.

The skyships in Athens:

Deployment:

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After the Games, for cost reasons, the opportunity was taken to leave ship 605 and its crew in Greece for the winter of 2004 and to carry out the annual maintenance there. Ship 601, on the other hand, was dismantled and stored in a hangar of the Greek Air Force, as it was not permitted to station a second ship in Buochs in order to make the operation more profitable and to further develop the company.

2005

Second season of round trips in Ennetbürgen

In spring, 605 returned via Italy and the Gotthard, this time crossing the pass in a northerly direction, to resume passenger operations at Buochs airfield in May. This was only towards the end of May because it had been agreed with the farmers that they could bring in the first (and apparently also the best!) hay before the skyship operation.

As a commitment to Switzerland, the ship was registered on 2 May 2005 as HB-QIZ under the Swiss flag. Skycruise Switzerland also received a sponsorship contribution from the renowned Swiss office furniture manufacturer “Girsberger” in return for branding the ship with the company’s red lettering.

Girsberger Branding

Once again, the flights were very well received, but – as in previous years – also prompted criticism and complaints from a wide range of circles.

Rundfahrt durch die Schweiz:

The biggest surprise, however, came from the FOCA in 2005: in addition to the operating license, a maintenance operation in accordance with JAR-145 was now required for a sightseeing flight operation. Although this was formally and legally in line with the overdone European regulations in force at the time, it was completely inadequate: the relevant regulations had been issued for “complex aircraft” weighing over 5.8 tons. Although the airship was as big as a jumbo jet and weighed 7.2 tons, its maximum speed was 99 km/h and it could carry 12 passengers. The complexity is equivalent to a much lighter twin-engine piston plane, while the passenger jet weighs over 300 tons, flies at almost 1000 km/h at an altitude of over 10,000 m and carries up to 660 passengers.

It must be assumed that airships were actually forgotten when these rules were drawn up, as they no longer existed for a long time and therefore had no lobby. An analogy would be to require the buyer of a cab to to set up their own car repair workshop.

This and the expiry of the provisional permit for the base in Ennetbürgen at Buochs airfield at the end of 2006, with no prospect of a permanent one, left no other choice but to transfer HB-QIZ back to the US register over the winter. As a result of all this, the financial cushion was increasingly strained, despite the successful passenger operations.

End of season, passage to Friedrichshafen:

In order to survive, it was now urgent to find alternative sources of income. Via the renowned advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi in London, a contract was signed for an advertising assignment for “Globacom”, an African telecommunications company. Time was of the essence in order to be on site in Nigeria with an appropriately branded ship in the first half of 2006. Thanks to a large down payment requested from Globacom, everything was already in motion to ensure the fulfillment of the contract.

2006

The Škoda contract in Europe

The run of bad luck continued in 2006. In March 06, Globacom decided to terminate the contract. Although the loss was reasonably limited due to the advance payment, “Skyship” now had no income. Fortunately, a replacement contract with “Škoda” for a European tour could be concluded at short notice. This was to last from July to October.

In agreement with the FOCA, May and June were used to fly off as many outstanding tickets and vouchers as possible in Ennetbürgen and 605 was transferred back to Friedrichshafen in June to rebrand the ship. Despite all the adversities, the advertising campaign was once again successfully launched in Prague to the day.

Škoda branding plus Nightsign plus banner, the customer wants the full program:

Impressions from the mission:

And again, luck and bad luck at the same time: we managed to conclude a follow-up contract for the winter. The skyship was due to cruise to Dubai for the inauguration of “Palm Island”.

Rebranding in Cardington for Palm Island:

Departing from London, 605 was scheduled to reach Dubai in spring 2007 via Paris, Rome, Greece and Egypt.

The unspoken actual reason is more likely to be found in the political differences within Arabia at the time.

The airship was thus blocked in Crete, as a return to Central Europe was no longer possible due to the winter weather. Heraklion airfield generously tolerated the ship and its crew remaining there over the winter, despite its considerable dimensions.

It was painful for SCL that the contract payments were suspended, even though the partner had confirmed that all overflight permits had been obtained when the contract was signed.

2007

Der Allegro-Vertrag in Polen

At the beginning of the year, SCL managed to use the Skyship for one last contract. This time for a period of four months for “Allegro” in Poland (an online seller similar to “ebay” and “Ricardo”).

And because all Swiss customs airfields north of the Alps refused to allow a landing, the Federal Customs Administration permitted a landing in an open farmers field near “Rufi”:

In April 2007, the ship left to Germany for the refit in Friedrichshafen and after that 605 flew northbound from the Zeppelin capital to Poland.

Rebranding in Friedrichshafen:

The Allegro mission was not always easy for the crew, if only because of the language, but it was a very interesting undertaking and a successful campaign for Allegro.

Impressions from the ground-crew:

Campaign on the Bay of Gdansk and Hel Peninsula:

This time Cardington was chosen as the winter quarters after this mission. The hangar had changed hands and there was speculation that it would be demolished, which made it possible to find cheap accommodation for 605. Unfortunately, the company was unable to find another advertising partner from this point on. Budgets were cut everywhere as a result of the sluggish economy worldwide.

2008 – 2010

The deflation and dismantling

So, 2008 began with no advertising contract and no income. It was only a matter of time before the financial reserves were exhausted. In order to prevent the ship from being confiscated due to inability to pay for the hangar space, the decision was made to fly out to Friedrichshafen and dismantle the ship there. With the last financial means and private contributions, the Skyship reached Lindau in Switzerland, the administrative headquarters of the SCL company, from England in August. Here, a neighbouring farmer allowed the ship to be provisionally stationed at the mast in his field at the entrance to the village. The workforce now had to be reduced to a minimum and mainly laid off. Some employees felt so attached to the company and the ship that they kept watch on the ship around the clock without pay, both technically and in terms of safety.

The balance sheet was deposited on September 24, 2008. Under Swiss law, 50% of the share capital of an AG must be able to be shown as an asset at all times. The auditor set the value of the ship at CHF 1.- (liquidation value instead of going concern value, as it could not be sold immediately), which finally broke Skyship Cruise AG’s back, especially as the house bank – which itself was rescued from collapse by the state a short time later “because it was systemically important” – refused to grant any bridging loan.

On Oct. 27, 2008, the always reliable Skyship made its last flight to Friedrichshafen, where it was later dismantled and stored thanks to the kind support of ZLT. This marked the end of six years of accident-free Skyship-operation.

On March 31. 2009, bankruptcy proceedings were opened. Since then, the company has been in liquidation.

Deflation and dismantling of Skyship 605: