Exterior view of hangar built for Cargolifter.

Interior (note the three people at the lower left)

The company Cargolifter AG was created in September, 1996 in Wiesbaden, Germany with the goal of offering a logistics service based on point-to point transport of heavy or outsized loads. This service was based on the development of a heavy lift airship, the CL160 with a planned capacity of 160 tonnes. In May 2000, there was a public stock offering and the shareholder structure was characterized by a high proportion of small investors. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (869x575, 94 KB) CargoLifter hangar, located at Briesen-Brand (Halbe in Brandenburg, Germany) Photo taken by de:Stefan Kühn Jun 29th, 2001. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (869x575, 94 KB) CargoLifter hangar, located at Briesen-Brand (Halbe in Brandenburg, Germany) Photo taken by de:Stefan Kühn Jun 29th, 2001. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x1480, 213 KB) CargoLifter hangar at Briesen-Brand (Halbe in Brandenburg, Germany), interior; Note the three people at the lower left. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x1480, 213 KB) CargoLifter hangar at Briesen-Brand (Halbe in Brandenburg, Germany), interior; Note the three people at the lower left. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Wiesbaden is a city in central Germany. ...

The planned large airship "CL 160" was never built, though there was a considerable amount of design and development work undertaken. The technical complexity (imagine something more complex and bigger than the A380), limited funding (a fraction of the funding available for the development of a new airliner) and very short development timescale meant the programme was always going to be risky. The Airbus A380 manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. is a double-decker, four engined airliner capable of flying 800 passengers in a high density format or 555 passengers in a typical three-class configuration. ...

A small testbed, named 'Joey', was built, in order to test concepts on a small scale. A prototype of the smaller transportation balloon "CL 75 Aircrane" was built but destroyed in a storm in July 2002. Despite this, in 2002, a contract with Boeing was agreed, for the joint study of a lighter-than-air Stratosphären Höhenplattform. Prototypes or prototypical instances combine the most representative attributes of a category. ... Balloons, like greeting cards or flowers, are given for special occasions. ... The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA)(TYO: 7661 ) is the worlds leading aircraft and aerospace manufacturer, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with its largest production facilities in Everett, Washington, about 30 miles north of Seattle, Washington. ...

Insolvency

On June 7, 2002 the company announced insolvency and proceedings began the following month. The whereabouts of the 300 million euros of shareholder funds, from over 70,000 investors, is still unclear. June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

The prototype of the smaller transportation balloon "CL 75 Aircrane", which was tested for the first time in October 2001, is probably a self-development. This unit was manufactured by an American company (AdvanTek International,LLC) on behalf of Cargolifter. A "CL 75 Aircrane" as well as 25 options (at a unit price of 10 million U.S. dollars), was sold to the Canadian company Heavy Elevator Canada Inc., in which the CargoLifter AG was involved to at least 20 per cent. The contract never became effective.

In June 2003, the company's facilities were sold off for less than 20% of their construction cost. The land was developed as a 'tropical paradise' themed vacation resort called Tropical Islands, which opened in 2004. Aerium, outside view. ...

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

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CargoLifter hangar