The Entrepreneurs – Episode Summary

Episode Title: How Kelluu’s UFO-like airships caught the eye of Nato and conspiracy theorists
Host: Tom Edwards, Monocle Radio
Date: March 11, 2026

Overview

This episode of "The Entrepreneurs" explores two aviation innovators: Maggie Draycott, a respected authority in luxury travel and founder of Club Aviator, and Jiri Jormacha, co-founder of Finnish autonomous airship maker Kelluu. The episode traverses how global instability affects the aviation industry, innovative approaches to building professional communities, and the revolutionary dual-use technology behind modern airships—catching the attention of both military organizations and internet conspiracy theorists.

Segment 1: The Changing Landscape of Aviation – Maggie Draycott & Club Aviator

Starts: 01:00

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Impact of Geopolitical Events on Aviation

• Middle East conflicts and restricted airspace: Draycott discusses how turmoil, especially in the Middle East and Russia, has significantly affected flight routing and travel times.

  "We now realize how much of a significant area the Middle East is for everybody… Look at Russia. We can’t fly over Russia; all the flights have to divert. I went to Japan... it took 16 hours, whereas normally it'd take 12."
  — Maggie Draycott (02:36)

• Flight Crew Realities: Strong emphasis on the overlooked challenges flight crews face amid travel disruptions.

  "There's a lot of crews stuck out there... traveling on their airline networks and we need to check how they're coping."
  — Maggie Draycott (02:36)

Resilience & Adaptability of the Airline Industry

• Draycott believes airlines are "very used to different things happening constantly" and will adapt, though the current situation is challenging.

  "They're used to different incidents happening constantly, but saying that, it's not the greatest thing, obviously, what's going on."
  — Maggie Draycott (03:57)

Personal Insights: Bhutan and Philosophical Lessons

• Draycott recounts her long-awaited trip to Bhutan, reflecting on its happiness-driven culture and spiritual approaches to impermanence.

  "You spend hours doing this [Mandala drawings], and then they just get a little brush and they break it down. What they're trying to say is, nothing in life is permanent... Everything is about your next life."
  — Maggie Draycott (05:23)

• Her travels underline the theme of recalibrating values and community, echoing later discussion around Club Aviator.

Driving Innovation in Loyalty & Community

• Origin of British Airways’ Premier Club: Draycott’s idea for segmenting and better serving the top 5% of flyers, which became the exclusive Premier Club.

  "My idea was basically, we need to... look at the top 5%... They were flying five times as much as your regular card holder."
  — Maggie Draycott (07:14)

The Genesis of Club Aviator

• Community for Aviation Professionals: Identified a gap: airline staff had no platform to connect globally, unlike their hospitality counterparts.

  "There is nothing in the world that gives airline staff the opportunity to engage with each other... Every hotel manager knows the other hotel, but within aviation, they don't know each other."
  — Maggie Draycott (10:04)

• Club Aviator became the solution, enabling crew to meet, share recommendations, and counter loneliness.

  "It's all about building that friendship... On any given night, there's 2000 crew in New York, and none of them know each other."
  — Maggie Draycott (11:53)

Notable Features and Growth

• Over 42 airlines' staff signed up within four months, driven by word of mouth.

  "We've got 42 airlines signed up... and it's been like four months, right?"
  — Maggie Draycott (11:20)

• Strong emphasis on verified, closed-group safety for young crew members:

  "Every single day, we get hundreds of people who don't work for airlines who are trying to join... You either make up your mind you want a closed user group or you just open it up to the whole world, and it just doesn't work like that for us."
  — Maggie Draycott (14:53)

Values: The Importance of Clubs and Combating Loneliness

• Draycott draws on her childhood club experiences, advocating for communal belonging to counteract digital-age isolation.

  "I've always been part of a club... there's a big problem with loneliness. I think there's a huge problem. And anxiety and all sorts of things."
  — Maggie Draycott (13:13)

Segment 2: A New Era for Airships – Jiri Jormacha & Kelluu

Starts: 16:02

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Technology Overview:

• Modern Airships vs. Zeppelins: Kelluu’s "lighter than air" unmanned airships are 12 meters long—small compared to historical zeppelins, but much larger than typical drones.

  "Technically, the term is lighter than air, unmanned... they are 12 meters long."
  — Jiri Jormacha (16:50)

Powering the Future

• Hydrogen for Lift and Propulsion: Kelluu uses hydrogen both for buoyancy and power (via fuel cells)—enabling extreme endurance and performance in harsh environments.

  "Because of the lifting gas, we are not using any energy when we are staying up... We use hydrogen as a lifting gas but as a power source as well."
  — Jiri Jormacha (17:42) "For example, I was two weeks ago in Lapland, Finland, and it was minus 30°C, and we were doing missions over there."
  — Jiri Jormacha (18:23)

Dual-Use Applications: Data & Security

• Civil and Military Markets: Kelluu started as a civilian company, now also serves defense (including NATO).

  "We are a dual use company. We started as a civilian company... what our tech actually can do better... is super high accurate digital model of the world."
  — Jiri Jormacha (19:01)

• Outperforms satellites (higher data quality) and drones (greater range, endurance).

  "We can stay up for extreme long time like satellites and provide super high quality data like drones. So we have the quality and scale..."
  — Jiri Jormacha (19:35)

Operating in Electronic Warfare Conditions

• Developed in Adversarial Environments: Kelluu’s HQ is near the Russian border, providing constant GNSS jamming for robust R&D.

  "Our headquarters and factories [are] located just next to Russian border in Finland. So we have 24/7 free GNSS jamming. So that's where we are doing all the R and D."
  — Jiri Jormacha (24:15)

• Kelluu’s airships are “GNSS resilient,” designed for environments with jamming and spoofing.

Integration & Regulation

• Airships operate at low altitude, below cloud level—minimizing conflict with civil aviation lanes. Regulatory frameworks (like EASA) are progressing, and not seen as the main barrier to scaling.

  "Everything shows now that the regulatory will not be the bottleneck on scaling up globally doing like hundreds of thousands of these."
  — Jiri Jormacha (24:58)

The “UFO” Phenomenon & Public Perception

• The airships’ silvery, floating, silent presence has led to UFO sightings and social media attention.

  "Yes, we have some UFO action happening... in Nordic countries you can go and Google Kelluu UFOs or Airship UFOs... there's like all kinds of video footage, rumors in X and in Reddit. People don't know what is happening. And yeah, we are in the UFO scene."
  — Jiri Jormacha (26:34)

• Jormacha wryly notes Kelluu may be the "most famous UFO company from Finland."

  "I'm sure that we are the most famous UFO company from Finland. I'm pretty sure on that one."
  — Jiri Jormacha (27:14)

Ambitions and Scale

• Aims to Become a “Unicorn”: Scaling from startup to scale-up, hoping to reach unicorn status in Finland.

  "Now turning to be a scale up company... I think the number of unicorns in Finland is bit too small compared to UK. So I think that is a good next big milestone for Kelluu—to become a unicorn company."
  — Jiri Jormacha (27:46)

• Vision: Mass production of hundreds of thousands of emission-free, data-collecting airships.

  "The plan is that we will build rather hundreds of thousands of these than thousands. And it will help humankind to understand what direction our Earth is going."
  — Jiri Jormacha (23:12)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Nothing in life is permanent. It's all about impermanence, the belief there."
  — Maggie Draycott (05:23)

• "On any given night, there's 2000 crew in New York every night and none of them know each other."
  — Maggie Draycott (11:17)

• "We are not using any energy when we are staying up. So we only use energy if we move or stay in one location when there's wind."
  — Jiri Jormacha (17:42)

• "We are in the UFO scene."
  — Jiri Jormacha (26:34)

• "I’m sure that we are the most famous UFO company from Finland."
  — Jiri Jormacha (27:14)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:00 – Aviation sector challenges in global conflict (Maggie Draycott)
• 04:51 – Travel wisdom from Bhutan and value of impermanence (Maggie Draycott)
• 07:14 – Designing BA’s Premier Club (Maggie Draycott)
• 10:04 – The origin of Club Aviator (Maggie Draycott)
• 13:13 – The importance of clubs for wellbeing (Maggie Draycott)
• 16:50 – Kelluu’s airships: size and technology (Jiri Jormacha)
• 17:42 – Power systems and extreme weather (Jiri Jormacha)
• 18:34 – Civilian and defense applications of airships (Jiri Jormacha)
• 21:01 – Work with NATO and border monitoring (Jiri Jormacha)
• 24:15 – GNSS jamming resilience developed at Russian border (Jiri Jormacha)
• 26:34 – “UFO” status and public curiosity (Jiri Jormacha)
• 27:46 – Next steps: Scaling up and aiming for unicorn status (Jiri Jormacha)

Episode Takeaways

• Aviation professionals need dedicated, safe spaces and communities—Club Aviator fills this void, promoting connection in an often isolating field.
• Lighter-than-air technologies, reborn with modern power and data systems, are poised for wide-ranging civilian and defense uses—and are sparking imaginations both on and offline.
• Innovation thrives at the intersection of old and new: airships return as emission-free, high-data, resilient platforms, while professional community is reimagined for the digital, global age.