You're right about everything except the Hindenburg being safer - hydrogen can never be made that safe because of the way it migrates through just about anything. We'd have to use helium.
The real problem is planes benefit from a huge existing market plus military utility. The first passenger airplanes were essentially WW II bombers with seats where the bomb bays had been. When Boeing or Airbus builds a new jet, they amortize the cost over hundreds of civilian air frames, plus potentially hundreds more military tanker and transport versions.
If you were to build an airship the size of Hindenburg, you'd build, what, three or four at the most? The unit cost would be about a billion dollars by the time everything was done and you had passenger certification. You'd need a lot of high-priced tourists to fill the gap.
You can go to Friedrichshafen and ride an existing airship. It costs about $250 for a half hour, and I'm not convinced they actually make money.
There's a chance we could see the return of airships, but the only way it's going to happen is an enormous increase in the price of fossil fuels. Even then, though, they'll never be as efficient as ocean or rail travel, so it's likely airships would be the mode of transport for the rich and politically connected. The rest of use would be back in steerage.
The real problem is planes benefit from a huge existing market plus military utility. The first passenger airplanes were essentially WW II bombers with seats where the bomb bays had been. When Boeing or Airbus builds a new jet, they amortize the cost over hundreds of civilian air frames, plus potentially hundreds more military tanker and transport versions.
If you were to build an airship the size of Hindenburg, you'd build, what, three or four at the most? The unit cost would be about a billion dollars by the time everything was done and you had passenger certification. You'd need a lot of high-priced tourists to fill the gap.
You can go to Friedrichshafen and ride an existing airship. It costs about $250 for a half hour, and I'm not convinced they actually make money.
There's a chance we could see the return of airships, but the only way it's going to happen is an enormous increase in the price of fossil fuels. Even then, though, they'll never be as efficient as ocean or rail travel, so it's likely airships would be the mode of transport for the rich and politically connected. The rest of use would be back in steerage.