page_title: Airship Industries
section_title: Skyship 600
hierarchical_section_title: Airship Industries / Airship Industries, 1980–90 / Skyship 600
context_page_description: Airship Industries was a British manufacturers of modern non-rigid airships active under that name from 1970 to 1990 and controlled for part of that time by Alan Bond. The first company, Aerospace Developments, was founded in 1970, and a successor, Hybrid Air Vehicles, remains active as of 2018. Airship Industries itself was active between 1980 and 1990.
  In addition to the manufacture of non-rigid airships, several of the companies were involved in abortive proposals for many other non-rigid and rigid types. The historic airship facilities at Cardington, Bedfordshire, were used as a base for the firm's test flying and an assembly site for some of its airships.
context_section_description: Airship Industries followed the Skyship 500 with the similar but larger Skyship 600, 59 metres (194 ft) long with 6,666 cubic metres (235,400 cu ft) of helium and seating for up to 18 passengers and two crew. The first Skyship 600 flew from Cardington on 6 March 1984. In all, ten Skyship 600s were built: two at Cardington; three at Weeksville, near Elizabeth City, North Carolina; one at Sydney; two in Japan; and one at Lakehurst, New Jersey. As was the case with the 500, two additional gondolas were commenced but never completed.
  Like the 500, the 600 was employed in the traditional blimp role as an advertising and camera platform and tested in a variety of other civil and military roles. The sightseeing operations begun with the 500 were expanded to take in a number of additional cities worldwide, including Paris, Toronto, Montreal, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, San Francisco and Zurich, as well as London.
caption: A Skyship 600 operated by Skycruise Switzerland
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