Airline Air-lift

I'm assuming that a significant part of the expense of airline travel is the takeoff and landing of the aircraft.

I thought it might be cheaper to have a blimp-type vessel with the cabin attachted to it bring the passengers and cargo to cruising altitude. There an aircraft, already in motion, would hook onto the cabin and transport it horizontally.

Once it arrives at its destination, the aircraft detatches, and the cabin will descend.

At cruising speed, modern aircraft use considerably less fuel than slower speeds of flight. Furthermore, they can easily pick up and drop off cabins -- so they don't waste time taking off and landing.

Hot-air technology is a safe way to fly. The reason the Hindenberg went down in flames was because *the material* caught on fire. Non-pressurized hydrogen will not burn because it is so light, it escapes into space before it has a chance to react. You can design a balloon with several 'pockets' so that even if one, two, or three develop leaks, the craft as a whole is still light enough to make a safe landing.

However, ballon flight is so slow for moving across distances, no one uses it. Here, we are only using it to move up and down, which is inefficient with aircraft.