How come airships (or blimps) made today aren as large as the airships of yore?
As the others have noted, blimps have no internal skeleton. A large airship requires a rigid airframe for stability (e.g., a Zeppelin). There is little interest in reviving airships for passenger travel, except for the novelty aspect – something along the lines of a cruise ship. On the other hand, there is interest in building modern technology, rigid-frame airships for use as cargo transports. Many items simply do not need to be shipped quickly and a slower-speed form of transport is quite acceptable (e.g., ships, railroads). An airship has some distinct advantages over a conventional aircraft. They don’t require as large an (airport) infrastructure to support their operations. They can operate in and out of remote sites, which can be deployed to meet situational needs more cheaply than for conventional aircraft. Since an airship is quieter than other commercial aircraft, they would have fewer restrictions on the location and hours of operation of their landing sites. Such options are
