Greenwich Post 21 January 2001

Blimp seen as sizable marketing vehicle

It's not a bird, it's not a plane, and it's certainly not an alien spacecraft, though it's sometimes mistaken for one. What it is, according to Greenwich-based Airship Management Services Inc., is a sure way to get your business off the ground. "It has a visual impact on people - it presents brand awareness, and blimps bring smiles to people's faces," said George Spyrou, Airship's chairman and president.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s five blimps are the best recognized, though companies such as Virgin Atlantic Airways have also gotten much recognition for their promotional use of airships.

Unlike the early 20th century when rigid airships were seen as luxury ocean liners in the sky, most airships today are not designed to carry many passengers. They are primarily intended for advertising and promotional usage, which is Airship Management's prime business. The firm's other uses include VIP flights, police surveillance and defense.

Through the years, the company has attracted such clients such as Fujifilm and Pepsico to lease or buy its airships and use them as billboards in the sky. What initially attracted Spyrou to airships was their floating quality, safety and ease of operation.

"It's not like flying in a two-wing plane. It's a gentle and more leisurely way of travel. Even if we turn off the engine, we'd still float," said Spyrou, who is of Scottish and Greek descent.

Spyrou, who came from a shipping and maritime background, was previously director of sales and marketing for Airship Industries Ltd. in the United Kingdom, working with clients in the United States and Japan. After the company's demise in 1990, Spyrou started Airship Management Services that same year.

Although there are other airship companies in the United States, including Goodyear and American Blimp, Spyrou said his company has carved a niche among the giants of the industry. "Our ships are bigger," he said.

Airship Management's blimp - the company currently operates two and builds others as required - is called the Skyship 600. "It's about 200 feet long and 70 feet high," the Greenwich resident said.

This compares with Goodyear's larger blimps, which are 192 feet long and 591Ú2 feet high, while the tire company's smaller European and South American-based blimps measure 130 feet long and 44 feet high.

Airship Management employs five people in this area and 10 in North Carolina, where airship assembly and maintenance take place. Each AMS airship has a 22 employees but only two or three people operate the ship.

The company's blimps can carry up to 13 passengers, though usually six to eight people are carried on an airship flight, Spyrou said.

Carol Smith, national manager of corporate events and airship operation with Fujifilm, said her company has worked with Spyrou since 1984 when he was still with Airship Industries. Blimps have done wonders for the Japanese film company, she said.

"It's given us a phenomenal corporate image. It has brought our name to people in a non-intrusive, but impactful way. And most people still love blimps," she said.

"We fly it 48 weeks out of the year for broadcast of sports events, local and national news criss-crossing the country. We also worked with Woods Hole, a not-for-profit organization that does oceanographic research, to track whale migration," Smith said.

For the future, Spyrou says the company is working on designs to produce an even larger airship that would allow for more passengers to be transported on flights.

"The Hindenburg (the German zeppelin that exploded in New Jersey in 1937) could carry 90 people on board, so we believe that the future lies in a bigger ship. Until now, the business has been focused on mostly advertising and brand awareness. So we hope to grow more in the surveillance and passenger side of the business," Spyrou said.