The Legault government is once again pumping money into Flying Whales, a company that wants to use airships to revolutionize the transportation of heavy loads, but has met with skeptics. Quebec awards $8 million to the Company’s Quebec subsidiary and Thales Canada to develop control systems that will be integrated into the model airship developed by Flying Whales.

Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon made the announcement during a press conference in Longueuil on Friday morning to mark the annual general meeting of Aéro Montréal, the organization representing Quebec’s aerospace cluster.

He was present to announce an amount of US$47.45 million to support four projects in Quebec’s aerospace sector and to be distributed to eight companies including Airbus Canada, Pratt Whitney, Bombardier, Thales Canada and the French Company Flying Whales.

The selected projects were chosen following a call for projects launched by the government in July 2022 “to support the development of technologies for tomorrow’s transport”, as we explain in a press release.

In addition to the US$8 million that Quebec subsidiary Flying Whales will share with Thales Canada, the Quebec government has already awarded more than US$75 million in public funds to the airship company.

In 2019, the Legault government invested €15 million (around US$22 million at the exchange rate at the time) in Flying Whales’ parent company, based in France. Later, in June 2022, Quebec announced a new investment of €25 million (US$33.5 million) in Flying Whales’ parent company, as well as €15 million (US$20 million) in its Quebec subsidiary.

The Flying Whales company is working on the development of an airship model, the LCA60T, a 60-ton capacity aircraft intended for transporting heavy or bulky loads – such as wind turbine blades or mining equipment – inland or overland to remote areas, such as the high north of Quebec.

To see in the video