CargoLifter

Cargolifter AG was a German company founded in 1996 to offer logistical services through point-to point transport of heavy and outsized loads.

This service was based on the development of a heavy lift airship, the CL160, a 550,000 m3 (19,000,000 cu ft) vessel designed to carry a 160 t (160,000 kg; 350,000 lb) payload.

[2] Cargolifter AG was founded by a group of influential engineers and scientists in 1996, and its main goal was to promote airships and develop technologies for their use as a lifting mechanism for transporting heavy and bulky goods to hard-to-reach places.

A public stock offering took place in May 2000, and the resulting shareholder structure was characterized by a high proportion of small investors, attracted by substantial press coverage of the new breakthrough technologies being promised.

The sale of one CL 75 Aircrane along with 25 options (at a unit price of US$10 million), was later planned to the Canadian company Heavy Elevator Canada Inc., a deal with which CargoLifter AG was at least 20%[citation needed] involved.

The Skyship airship, which had been purchased by Cargolifter for training and research purposes, was sold to Swiss Skycruise and used in Athens for flights connected with the Olympic games held there.