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  • $\begingroup$ Both the LZ 129 Hindenburg and the LZ 130 were designed for helium, but an American embargo forced the Zeppelin company to go back to hydrogen. And I am unaware that a 737 adds full-size beds and even a grand piano to the frills on board. We must be flying on different airlines. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 22:51
  • $\begingroup$ @PeterKämpf: The information I found regarding hydrogen is somewhat conflicting. Some sources say it was the embargo that forced them to hydrogen, other say it was simply the cost and the fact that they didn't have any incident with hydrogen before the Hindenburg disaster. It's not even consistent across the Wikipedia articles. As for frills, that's not much relevant to comparing the payload capacity, which is still similar. The airship provided a lot of luxury, but the trans-atlantic trip also took 2-3 days (depending on wind) instead of 8 hours in a jet. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Hudec
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 23:03
  • $\begingroup$ My thinking is that the only real market for airships would be tourism (or long endurance operations such as military or comm relays). $\endgroup$
    – Matthew Peters
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 1:53
  • $\begingroup$ @MatthewPeters: The only somewhat successful new airship project seems to be Zeppelin NT. They are much smaller than the large pre-war passenger airships, 5 were built so far and there don't seem to be that much interest. The one that made sight-seeing flights in bay area ceased operations after some 5 years. Some are still operating sight-seeing flights somewhere in Germany, but I don't know whether it's really profitable or just advertising of the ships. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Hudec
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 13:26
  • $\begingroup$ The LZ 128 was designed for hydrogen, but never built after the R 101 disaster. Instead, the larger LZ 129 and LZ 130 were built to have the same lift with helium as the smaller LZ 128 with hydrogen gas. Maybe the Americans now feel sorry for their jingoistic embargo and want to shift the blame for an accident that really did not need to happen. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 15:58