The plane’s engine or propulsion system, you check your luggage, go through security, wait in line, sit in cramped coach seats with a TV, round window, fold-out tray, and peanuts, or you can upgrade to first class for a little more legroom and champagne. The issue is, and has been for decades, that airlines are airlines. But that hasn’t prevented people from imagining grander dreams and creating quicker, more efficient ways to travel by air. Who’s to say that some of these concepts won’t finally be implemented when aircraft designs are updated now that the era of fossil fuels is coming to an end? Future commercial airline trends that we’ve gathered into a small number.
Electric Everything
Small electric motors, like those featured on NASA’s X-57 prototype, will allow even a large aircraft’s propulsion to be distributed across the structure of the plane. Not only does this minimize the impact of a potential engine failure, but reduced operational costs and noise levels will greatly expand the ability of aircraft to travel near places of business and residence. That might sound like a nice enough, but ultimately small, improvement over the airline status quo.
Biofuel Planes
If we wait for the transition and put our affairs in order, switching from fossil fuels to biofuels will cut aviation carbon emissions by 35 to 85%. It’s still critical to remember that cost parity between present fossil fuel sources and biofuels won’t occur for another ten years or more. However, as we previously stated, that is nearly half the time it will take to completely switch over to electric power. More eco-friendly aircraft technology is a worthy objective to pursue because the world can’t wait indefinitely for us to take its health seriously.
Automation
Here’s another trend we’re seeing everywhere: the replacement of humans with machines. The military realized a while back that sending robots to the battlefield is infinitely better than putting boots on the ground, and now we have missile-launching, remote piloted drones doing the work of jet fighter pilots.
Tailless “Flying Wings”
This basic design is hardly new, but it never got off the ground as far as commercial useable when it was first introduced, largely because it featured amphitheatre-style seating in which passengers would sit in long rows rather than columns which allowed for easier movement.
Private Space Flight
Private companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic are beginning to take the reigns of space flight from government funded giants the world over. Investor seeding and government co tracts are currently the only way to keep the private space-minded giants funded. But hopefully sooner than we think, rich benefactors will be the first private passengers beyond the planet’s atmosphere.