How many blimps are there in the world?
The internet’s favourite answer is “only 25 blimps left, and about half still fly.” That figure traces back to a 2021 Reader’s Digest piece, and it has been copied everywhere since. But airship historian Dan Grossman — the expert that article actually interviewed — calls the question “inscrutable”: no register exists, and the answer swings from about 12 to 43 depending on what you agree counts as a blimp. Even the world’s most famous one doesn’t qualify.
There is no official worldwide register of blimps. The number you get depends entirely on what you agree to count — so decide for yourself.
You just built the Reader’s Digest "25 blimps left" figure — active advertising blimps plus the ones parked in hangars.
Category counts are best estimates as of 2026 — sources in the card below. Even the experts call the true total unknowable.
Where the “25 blimps” number actually came from
In 2021, Reader’s Digest reported a consensus that “about 25 blimps are still in existence and only about half of them are still in use for advertising purposes.” The line was picked up by Mental Floss in 2022, then by TikTok, where “there are more retired space shuttles than blimps” became a viral comparison. The number stuck because it is tidy and startling.
The catch: it was always an estimate of surviving envelopes, active and mothballed together. Count only true blimps actually flying and you get roughly a dozen. Count every operating airship — semi-rigids, new rigids, hot-air ships — and the World Airship Association has listed 43 across 18 countries. Both answers are defensible. Neither is “25.”
The Goodyear paradox: the world’s most famous blimp isn’t one
A blimp, strictly, is a non-rigid airship — no internal skeleton, its shape held purely by helium pressure. Goodyear flew genuine blimps from the Pilgrim in 1925 (the first helium-filled non-rigid) until 2017, when its last true blimp was retired. Since 2014 the company has flown semi-rigid Zeppelin NT airships built in partnership with Zeppelin in Germany — there is a frame inside.
So, how many Goodyear blimps are there? Four aircraft — Wingfoot One, Wingfoot Two and Wingfoot Three in the United States, plus one based in Europe — and, pedantically, zero blimps. Goodyear keeps the name because the brand is a century old; the engineering moved on without telling the marketing department.
Who actually flies blimps today
The workhorses of the real blimp fleet belong to the AirSign Airship Group, which bought the Van Wagner Airship Group and the American Blimp Corporation in 2017, acquiring around 15 airships. AirSign operates roughly eight active ships, including the MetLife blimp, the DirecTV blimp and New England’s Hood Blimp — the ones you see loitering over stadium broadcasts. Beyond advertising, a handful fly surveillance, research and tourism roles, including Zeppelin NT sightseeing flights from Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Why the number collapsed
Blimps lost on economics, not romance. Operating a manned airship costs roughly $1,000–$3,000 per hour for a craft cruising at 35–50 mph; a full helium fill for a Goodyear-sized ship (about 300,000 cubic feet) runs on the order of $75,000. FAA rules effectively ground a blimp in winds above about 75% of its top speed with one engine out, and only one large airship hangar has been built anywhere in the world since World War II — at Brand, south of Berlin. Meanwhile a drone captures the same stadium shot for the price of a nice camera. If you want the full ledger, we priced the whole thing — from $1,000 tethered advertising blimps to $21 million airships — on our how much do blimps cost page.
The count may be about to rise
The strange twist is that lighter-than-air flight is growing again — just not as blimps. In October 2024, LTA Research flew Pathfinder 1, a 124-metre rigid airship (the largest aircraft in the world and the first rigid built in about 85 years), past San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. France’s Flying Whales is building a factory for heavy-cargo rigid airships. China’s AVIC AS700 airship won type certification in December 2023 with talk of dozens of units for tourism. None of these are blimps — which means the “how many blimps” number may keep shrinking even while the sky fills back up with airships.
Blimp or not? Prove you can spot one
Eight famous aircraft. Call each one. The word “blimp” has fooled sharper people than you.
- Reader’s Digest, “How Many Blimps Are There?” — interview with airship historian Dan Grossman (updated 2025); origin of the “about 25” consensus figure and the Goodyear NT / 2017 retirement detail.
- Mental Floss, “There Are Only 25 Blimps Left on Earth” (Aug 2022) — the piece that spread the figure; Hindenburg, 6 May 1937.
- Wikipedia, “List of current airships in the United States” (FAA registry-based; accessed 2026) — AirSign fleet of 8 active ships incl. Hood, DirecTV, MetLife; Van Wagner / American Blimp Corp acquisition, 2017.
- World Airship Association operating list — 43 airships across 18 countries under the broad definition.
- ScienceInsights, “Why Are There No More Blimps” (Mar 2026) — $1,000–$3,000/hr operating cost, FAA wind rule, Brand hangar, LTA Pathfinder 1 (Oct 2024, 124 m), Flying Whales.
- AVIC AS700 type certification, December 2023 (civil airship programme, China).
So how many blimps are there? Pick your definition and defend it — because the only thing rarer than a blimp is two sources that count them the same way.