Canada’s renewed focus on national defence and northern security has drawn attention to a longstanding challenge: geography. The North’s vast distances, limited infrastructure, and sparse transportation networks create current strategic vulnerabilities and contribute to persistent challenges within the national transportation system. Moving cargo remains costly, slow, and unreliable. At the same time, these realities also open the door to rethinking how Canada moves goods, and to exploring aviation solutions capable of overcoming barriers posed by distance, climate, and limited ground access.
Why are airships poised for a modern revival?
When considering Canada’s geographic constraints, airships present a compelling opportunity. An airship is a lighter‑than‑air aircraft that achieves lift through a buoyant gas. Airships are steerable, making them capable of carrying large cargo or specialized equipment over long distances, at low emissions, and at a relatively low infrastructure cost.
Today’s airships can operate with onboard pilots or remotely, offering both technological flexibility and reduced operational risk. These characteristics make them particularly appealing for northern and remote operations, where current options are limited and expensive.
What regulatory barriers limit airship deployment?
Despite their potential, Canada’s current aviation regulations impose barriers to the use and advancement of modern airship technology, due to the ban on the use of hydrogen in aviation. In particular, the Canadian Aviation Regulations concerning airworthiness expressly prohibit hydrogen as a lifting gas, stating that “hydrogen is not an acceptable lifting gas for use in airships.” However, with today’s advancements in materials, engineering, and safety systems, hydrogen is capable of being safely integrated into aviation applications. Nonetheless, without updating the Canadian Aviation Regulations, hydrogen‑lift airships may not be deployed, although they may be particularly well‑suited to northern and remote operations.
Unmanned or remotely piloted airships also do not fit within the scope of Canada’s existing Aviation Regulations generally, including within the scope of Part IX, which governs Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. This framework namely imposes weight‑based, operational, and airspace constraints that are incompatible with the characteristics of unmanned airships. However, a dedicated set of standards could allow Transport Canada to regulate risk appropriately while encouraging innovation.
Who is advocating for an airship policy in the North?
Recently, the Canadian Arctic Innovation Association, an organization that includes First Nations and Inuit groups as well as transportation experts, has urged the Canadian government to issue a policy statement on the use of airships to service northern territories and to support the development of an airship program. The association argued that airships present a more economically viable option than expanding railways and highways to transport cargo to the North, and that many northern regions also lack the airport infrastructure and runways required for conventional aircraft.
How could pilot projects support regulatory change?
Canada has demonstrated a clear track record of creating pilot project carve‑outs in order to safely test and evaluate new technologies that otherwise would not fit or be barred by existing statutes and regulations. For instance, automated self‑driving vehicles recently benefited from certain pilot programs that permitted testing of the operations and security of such vehicles. A similar regulatory approach, such as implementing temporary authorizations and creating testing frameworks, could be applied to airship technology. This approach can permit safe demonstration and evaluation while allowing regulators the opportunity to evaluate and design modern, effective standards.
If you have questions about regulatory frameworks for innovative aviation technologies, including airships and remotely piloted aircrafts, Miller Thomson’s Transportation & Logistics lawyers would be pleased to assist.
