FeedsReplying to a comment on Zeppelins, and Why they Kick Ass
You're absolutely right. As it stands, this is completely unacceptable, especially since (as Mihai points out) airport taxes, etc. account for more than half the cost.
But on his post, he does some interesting calculations.
For instance, if we carry 27 times more people, the price per person will drop by roughly 3 (yes, yes, I'm ignoring the pilot). Note that 162 passengers is really a lot for a BOS->SFO flight today; US airlines learned that US travellers are very spoiled, and the recipe for success is frequent small flights.
In any case, this means you should pay on the order of $178 USD / person. That is not bad, but it's about what you're paying today for a regular airline, with sevices included. This means the zeppelin is not actually saving gas, and has the same oil bottleneck.
Now, remember, this is with current technology with basically one weird company out there. There's very little innovation going on. My hope is that we have most of the power provided by solar, which will drive the cost way down, and maybe even have different infrastructure so we don't have to deal with bullshit airport taxes that are simply absurd.
Two things, though.
One, I'm rooting for the zeppelins of the future, not the zeppelins of today or 1934. I'm banking on the zeppelins of the future being much more efficient, larger, and awesome.
Two, I think you're looking at zeppelins as an alternative to jets. I think they're an alternative only in certain situations. I definitely don't seem them taking up the bulk of traffic in the country.
I think you're just a zeppelinophobe.
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