Why Airships Will Never Be Part of Our Transportation Infrastructure

Hybrid Airships might not fair well on the particular log/log plot shown, but there are other figures of merit to be considered: Emissions, noise, necessary landing infrastructure, flight-time, fuel consumption vs. aircraft productivity (payload x distance / hr)

The one credible application I've seen for modern airships is for transporting ultra-heavy massively oversized loads. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CargoLifter. The idea is that overland transport by truck or train imposes maximum size limits from right-of-way, overpass, and tunnel constraints. That could leave a niche for airships which could far exceed the maximum sizes otherwise obtainable. Think massive generators or rocket bodies. So far though no one has made the numbers add up.

There was a bit of hand waving at the end there. Per lane mile of rail and road can run into the millions. So maybe you get 1000 miles of road. And what about Bridges? I think there is still room for airships.