"These days, with airlines and security and everything, all the joy has been taken out of travel,” says Brian Hall, CEO of Airship Ventures, the Mountain View, Calif., company offering zeppelin charter tours of the San Francisco Bay Area. “We’re providing a new perspective on the world and on travel itself.”

Indeed, Hall’s company seeks to reintroduce an age of luxury travel that transcends mere passenger transport. While the zeppelin industry failed to subsist following the fiery demise of the ill-fated Hindenburg in 1937, thanks to Airship Ventures and its German partner Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik—the world’s sole zeppelin manufacturer—airship travel is again an option. There are currently three zeppelins in operation around the world (all produced by the aforementioned German company) and, at 246 feet long, the Airship Ventures zeppelin is the largest.

New technology - The Zeppelin NT is designed to have the highest operating safety standards combined with exceptional passenger comfort and visibility. NT stands for New Technology.

It is 250 feet long, and nearly 60 feet tall and 65 feet wide! The airship hull, made of a state of the art multi layer laminate material from the same company that creates the NASA space suits, is filled with non-flammable helium.
 
Even a lightning strike will not affect the flight characteristics – another display of the uncompromising safety philosophy reflected throughout the ship’s construction.

Departing from three different locations in Northern California, the Airship Ventures zeppelin climbs to an altitude of 1,200 feet and moves at about 35 mph for tours of the Bay and Napa areas. Individual seats are available for $500 per hour; however, Airship Ventures allows the 12-seat cabin to be chartered outright by groups for custom tours.  “After all,” says Hall, “this is about travel, not transportation.”