hot air
Will the airship called Nelson ever get off the ground? It’ll be surprising if it does, writes Dawn Blalock
JONATHAN HAMILTON has a dream: to transport people in gas-filled airships. Others suggest he is full of hot air.
The 31-year-old Sandton entrepreneur is the founder of The Hamilton Airship Company, a business he formed to design and build airships – the blimp-like floating ships with a rigid internal structure first developed by Count Zeppelin in Germany early this century.
Since Hamilton has never actually flown in an airship, his business plan seems more like a personal fantasy – but he thinks enough people will be keen on the idea to ensure a profitable business.
“People are tired of being transported. People want to travel,” he says, explaining why passengers would choose his slower and more cumbersome means of travel over modern options.
Travel in an airship will be like riding in the first-class section of an airplane with a five-star hotel and restaurant for a gamewatching or sightseeing trip, he says. He paints a vivid picture: “You’re sitting 500m above the ground. Someone brings you a drink and you watch the world go by.”
Back on earth, however, Hamilton is having problems. The accounting firm Ernst & Young, originally involved in Hamilton’s fundraising, has pulled out of the project. The firm won’t say why, but other accountants suggest it was uncomfortable with Hamilton’s forecast returns to lure investors.
Financial analysts scoff at the figures Hamilton detailed in his prospectus. He is also being sued for R1-million for his earlier airship ventures. And he conceded this week that the venture, due to launch early next year, has so far raised less than R1-million. It needs R85-million, but Hamilton is relying on a so far unnamed American group to pump in $25-million.
The planned maiden voyage is a 10-day trip from Johannesburg to New York. Hamilton plans to sustain it by selling the media rights for R20-million. So far, he has had one booking inquiry for the Nelson, as the proposed airship has been christened. Hamilton plans to co-pilot the Nelson; he just needs to get his flying licence.
As for his qualifications to build airships, Hamilton says he has an IQ of 173 and could read and write at the age of three. His profile in the company’s prospectus states he was admitted to Mensa, the club for people with high IQs, at the age of 12. Anyway, says Hamilton, “Airships are very simple. It’s not rocket science.”
Unfortunately, it proved less than simple to keep Hamilton’s previous venture afloat. The first, and only, airship he designed and built flew for all of 24 hours before it crashed and was destroyed at the Rand Show last year. Lloyd’s of London paid out R750000 of a R1-million policy, Hamilton says.
Telkom, which was advertising on the side of the airship, was not happy about its downed campaign. It has a R1-million court case pending against Hamilton’s business.
These are hard knocks for a business which, according to Hamilton, has less than R1- million – cash raised from the recent private sale to private buyers of about one million Hamilton Airship shares.
What these shares will buy is difficult to assess. According to Hamilton, the shares’ value will jump to R18 from R1,50 in just six months, if all goes according to plan. In the process, this would make Hamilton, the majority shareholder, a rich man.
But analysts look askance at the slick Hamilton prospectus. The company’s books indicate it is insolvent, they say. It has never turned a profit, nor had any income. All but R28 000 of its “fixed assets” is R1,7-million spent on research and development – hardly a tangible asset, and an accounting technique which raised stockbrokers’ eyebrows.
Hamilton remains unfazed. Assuming the cash is raised, within weeks, he says, construction begins on phase one of an 8ha, 25-storey hangar big enough to handle the 129m Nelson.
Denel Aviation will work on refining the airship design – provided Hamilton raises the financing. Denel is waiting to hear from Hamilton’s company. “They haven’t given us an indication yet to show they have the necessary guarantees,” says Connie Vester, Denel Aviation’s CEO.