£50m airship would ferry 10,000 a day

Taking off from the Serpentine in Hyde Park, a 1,000 seater airship could be used to ferry visitors and athletes to and from Olympic venues around London.

The £50 million, 185metre long ship will take only five minutes to get from central London to the East End.

The idea has been presented to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, and the airship is set to make its first test flight in 2008. "We offer a green and easy solution for getting people to the venues," said Michael Stewart of Skycat, the company planning to operate it. "We have the ability to manoeuvre like a helicopter, so we can land almost anywhere in central London."

The company has produced a 15metre test model which performed flawlessly.

"We think we can ferry 10,000 people per day with this," added Mr Stewart.