Will Hot Air Balloons feature as a main attraction at the Dubai 2020 World Expo? Many people don’t realise that hot air ballooning is considered a form of aviation. The innovative history of this form of aviation, hot air ballooning dates back to the 1800’s. One of the most significant milestones for hot air ballooning occurred in 1878 – the year Paris hosted the seventh World Expo.
The Paris World Expo unveiled new technologies to over 16 million visitors like Thomas Edison’s first ever gramophone, electric street lights, the malling-hansen typewriter, and the one which excites us the most, the first passenger-carrying hot air balloon! In 1852, French inventor Henri Giffard built the first steam balloon, called ‘dirigible’ which comes from the French word diriger, meaning “to direct or to steer.” After a few attempts Giffard was able to build the first successful flying balloon. During the 1878 World Expo, the balloon lifted people 600 metres above Paris. To put this into perspective, our hot air balloons reach approximately 4,000ft (1,219 metres) when they fly over the Dubai desert.