HILO >> A Hilo attorney is proposing using a helium-filled airship to ferry passengers over active lava if molten rock from Kilauea volcano crosses Puna’s highway.

Steve Strauss told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald a gondola attached to a buoyant ship called a SkyFlyer would carry passengers over the lava. Each trip would take about five minutes and cost about $15 one way.

Strauss has registered a company called Lava Ferry for the project.

State Sen. Russell Ruderman says he fully supports the idea. But he’s not sure if it will happen.

Strauss says the $15 cost to ride the airship would be the same as the extra fuel costs people would need to pay to take a roundabout alternate route being built through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.