NYK Group airship to travel by sea to Japan
Nippon Airship Corp., in which Japanese ocean carrier Nippon Yusen Kaisha has a 59-percent stake, has aborted a flight by the company's 'Zeppelin NT' airship from Germany to Japan. The dirigible, which had reached Finland, will fly back to Germany and then be transported by sea to Japan.
The airship had planned to cross Russia, flying over Siberia and reaching Japan in late September. After two Russian domestic passenger jets crashed almost simultaneously as a result of suspected terrorism, 'it is very probable that flight restrictions on foreign aircraft such as 'Zeppelin NT' will be imposed for security reasons,' NYK Line said in a statement.
The airship had the option of taking a southbound route over Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Nippon Airship also scratched that option because 'it would take time to secure permissions to fly over those countries, and security issues cannot be neglected,' NYK Lines explained.
The dirigible will return to Zeppelin Luftschifftecknik GmbH in Friedrichishafen for inspection and maintenance, and then begin its voyage to Japan as project cargo.