PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (February 12, 2003) -- Skycruiser Corporation, which together with Airship Management Services, owns and operates the largest airships in the world, has completed one of the longest over-water airship crossings in recent times by flying a Skyship 600 (N610SK) from Miami to the Dominican Republic, a distance of 650 miles.

The airship, captained by Patrick McCardell and assisted by pilots Peter Buckley and Trevor Hunt (both of the U.K.) and Jose "Pepe" Colon of Puerto Rico, departed Elizabeth City, North Carolina on January 20. She flew down the east coast to Miami, Florida where she remained for four days before setting out across the Caribbean for Great Exuma in the Bahamas on January 27. The airship left Grand Exuma early on January 31 and landed at Puerto Plata on the north coast of the Dominican Republic about 14 hours later.

Equipment, engineers and ground crew were ferried across to Grand Exuma, and then on to the Dominican Republic by two chartered Casa aircraft.

The Skyship, flying for the Brugal Rum Company of Santo Domingo, is 200 feet long, 70 feet high, with an envelope volume of 240,000 cubic feet. The gondola or cabin, is 40 feet long, fitted with a lavatory, and is capable of seating up to 13 passengers. For the ferry flight she carried four pilots and extra fuel tanks which gave the Skyship a range of 780 nautical miles.

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"We are pleased with this remarkable performance, since an airship rarely operates more than 25 miles from its mast and ground crew," said George Spyrou, president of Skycruiser Corporation. "It was a logistical challenge that demonstrates the versatility and capability of this unique aircraft for which new applications are continually evolving."

The Brugal airship is the first airship ever to visit the Dominican Republic. For the next three months, throughout the Carnivale season, it will appear at festivals in Santo Domingo, Santiago, La Romana, La Vega, Puerto Plata, and numerous other cities.

The Skyship 600 was originally designed and developed in the U.K. during the 1980s.

Skycruiser Corporation is part of the Skycruiser group of companies that include Airship Management Services, Inc. (owners/operators of the FUJIFILM airship), Global Skyship Industries – formerly Westinghouse Airships -- Skyship Cruise Ltd. and Skycruise Switzerland (operators of airship passenger cruises in Switzerland). AMS and Skycruiser Corporation maintain their principal office in Greenwich, Conn., with other offices in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Greece and Japan. The companies operate a maintenance facility and FAA repair station at Skycruiser Corporation’s base in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. AMS personnel have been providing flight crew; technical expertise and ground support to airships since 1980 and have operated airships in Japan, Korea, Australia, the U.K., U.S.A., Canada, Germany and France. All crew are fully licensed by the relevant civil aviation authorities. Website: www.airshipman.com