Zeppelin tour offers bird’s eye stunning view of Paris

PARIS - France 24

Photo taken on March 13, 2011 shows a Zeppelin flying near the Sacre Coeur basilica over Paris. Tourists in Paris can fly soon with a zeppelin over the famous Palace of Versailles or the Seine in France. AFP photo

There are a million different ways to see the sites of Paris – by boat, bike, Segway, double-decker tour bus or even in a classic Citroën 2CV car painted in the colours of the French flag. But now there’s a new mode to add to the list – by Zeppelin.

Travel by Zeppelin hasn’t been a particularly popular form of transport since the Hindenburg burst into flames as it attempted to land outside of New York in 1937, killing 35 of the 97 people on board. Yet Airship Paris, which launched its maiden commercial flight on Sunday, hopes its venture in the skies will soon change that.

“My biggest dream would be to see a fleet of around 15 large Zeppelins, with a capacity of around 200 to 300 people, flying around Paris,” the company’s president Eric Lopez said.

Airship Paris takes off from a small airport 26 kilometres northwest of Paris in the suburb of Pontoise. The Zeppelin, which seats 12 people, flies at 300 metres (around 984 feet, or roughly the same height as the Eiffel Tower) above the ground, offering a bird’s eye view of the city’s tourist attractions.

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