A propulsion system for omnidirectional maneuverability and efficient forward flight of an airship. The propulsion system includes only fixed, unidirectional engines (17, 19, 20). Thrust vectors of the fixed engines (19, 20) are oriented in a way that their speeds can be chosen such that all forces acting on the airship (i.e., engine thrusts, gravity, buoyancy, wind and potentially others) together result in the desired motion. The engines may be four ducted fans (17) at the bow of the aircraft and four ducted fans (19) at the stern of the aircraft. The thrust vectors of the engines can be decomposed into three vectors of equal length that are each parallel to one of the three axes of a Cartesian coordinate system. Efficient forward flight is achieved by an additional engine (20) at the stern of the airship.