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NYK Group's Airship Flight over Siberia Canceled - Flying Back to Germany for Shipment to Japan by Sea

August 31, 2004

Nippon Airship Corporation (capital: Yen 340 million, president: Hiroyuki Watanabe), in which Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) has a 59% stake, has reached the final decision to abandon the flight by the "Zeppelin NT" airship which was on its way from Germany to Japan and instead transport the airship by sea to Japan.

The airship is currently waiting in Helsinki, having planned to cross Russia over a period of approximately one month and arrive in Japan via Siberia late September 2004. However, two Russian domestic passenger airplanes crashed almost simultaneously on the night of August 24, 2004 (before dawn on August 25, 2004, Japan time). As terrorist attacks are highly suspected as the cause, each airport in Russia is on heightened alert, and it is very probable that flight restrictions on foreign aircraft such as "Zeppelin NT" airship will be imposed for security reasons. If the flight across Siberia is delayed under these circumstances, unfavorable winter weather makes the flight impossible. For these reasons, the airship's flight over Russia has been deferred.

The southbound route, which connects Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other countries, is another option for a journey to Japan aside from the northbound route over Siberia; however, it would take time to secure permissions to fly over these countries, and security issues cannot be neglected. Therefore, transport by sea has been selected.

The airship will return to Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (Friedrichishafen, Germany) for inspection and maintenance and then transported by sea to Japan. The specific schedule and other relevant issues will be announced separately as soon as they are determined.

This decision has been made to prevent further delay of arrival in Japan and at the same time to carry out a cooperative flight for the 2005 World Exposition Aichi Japan, which will commence in March 2005.

After late September, snowfall and ice are highly likely in some Siberian locations where the average minimum temperature is one degree Celsius or below. These conditions lower the airship's levitation capacity and load a negative impact on flights. Additionally, many days after late September see strong wind, the level of which is beyond operation standards, resulting in fewer chances for operation.