What if tomorrow's aircraft were not as we know it today, i.e. with a tubular fuselage, wings stretched like birds' and jet engines fuelled by paraffin? Admittedly, that's a long way off, as most of the projects are still in the engineers' computers. But we're almost there. Last June, KLM and the Delft University of Technology signed an agreement to support research into a revolutionary devicethe Flying V. So named because of its triangular-shaped fuselage, its design is more reminiscent of spaceships in science-fiction films than of aircraft...
What if tomorrow's aircraft were not as we know it today, i.e. with a tubular fuselage, wings stretched like birds' and jet engines fuelled by paraffin? Admittedly, that's a long way off, as most of the projects are still in the engineers' computers. But we're almost there. Last June, KLM and the Delft University of Technology signed an agreement to support research into a revolutionary devicethe Flying V. So named because of its triangular-shaped fuselage, its design is more reminiscent of spaceships in science-fiction films than of aircraft produced by Airbus or Boeing.
With its streamlined shape, but similar wingspan to the Airbus A350, the aircraft will offer less aerodynamic resistance. Peter Vink, Professor of Applied Ergonomics and Design at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University, believes that "This new shape offers us exciting opportunities to design the interior of the aircraft and make flying more comfortable."The cabins in his broad wingsIt will be able to carry 314 passengers, who will be offered new options such as rest areas and buffet meals.
Like a boomerang
Its boomerang-like shape and lighter weight will enable the device to reduce consumption by 20 % in paraffin. The Flying V could also be adapted to fly with electric batteries. In October, a model of the aircraft and a scale example of the cabin interior will be presented at Amsterdam Schiphol airport during the Experience Days organised by KLM. An innovative way of celebrating the Dutch airline's centenary.
In the United States, Boeing is also working on a small aircraft that looks like a kiteThe X-48C Blended Wing Body was designed by the late McDonnell Douglas before it was taken over by Boeing in 1997. However, even if the aircraft represents real potential in terms of savings, the chance of seeing it appear on the market any time soon is very slim. At a seminar in Seattle in 2018, Mike Sinnett, Boeing's vice-president in charge of future aircraft, said that its configuration would be difficult to develop, particularly in terms of offering large-capacity aircraft, as well as being available in a whole range of models. What's more, airports are not always designed to accommodate an aircraft whose shape is the antithesis of today's aircraft...
Vertical take-off
Science fiction be damned, what are we to think of aircraft that could carry out vertical their take-offs and landings, summarised in English by the acronym VTOL, for Vertical Take-Off and Landing? This technologyThe VTOL system, used by today's drones, is being adapted, but once again we're talking about small-capacity aircraft. Transcend Air, an American carrier based in Boston, has developed several VTOL prototypes, including the Vy 400. The aircraft resembles a helicopter, but is much faster than its propeller counterpart, flying at a speed of 650 km/h. It would take it 35 minutes to cover the distance between Boston and Manhattan, and less than an hour to fly from Manhattan to Boston. Los Angeles to San Francisco. In fact, the ability to take off and land vertically will enable the company to avoid airports and traffic jams with direct connections from city centre to city centre. All of which means significant time savings. Transcend Air expects to launch its first routes by 2024.
are betting on a new mode of urban transport, going from city centre to city centre by air.
That same year, to coincide with the Paris Olympic Games, it will no doubt be possible to jump at Roissy in a flying taxi to find themselves fifteen minutes later in the heart of Paris. At the recent Paris Air Show, Airbus, RATP and ADP Group have announced that they are conducting a joint feasibility study and developing a VTOL concept that will be quieter than helicopters and run on electric batteries to protect the environment. The project will also require a suitable infrastructure, with the construction of "vertiports". The alliance is counting on reasonable prices, around 25 euros for a single trip.
However, it is highly unlikely that a VTOL will soon be able to link Paris to Tokyo in less than five hours. Such a performance could only be achieved by a supersonic aircraft. However, since the demise of Concorde in 2003, that era was thought to be over. But contrary to all expectations, its successors are flourishing on the other side of the Atlantic, with projects stimulated by the lifting of the ban on supersonic aircraft flying over the United States. In partnership with Lockheed Martin, NASA is working on an ultra-quiet model, the X-59 QueSST, which could start flying at 1,500 km/h from 2022. That's twice the speed of a subsonic aircraft.
Although aircraft are less polluting than they were a decade or two ago, there are more and more of them in the sky.
However, the most spectacular project could come from the American firm Boom with its Overture aircraft, which has the backing of Virgin Galactic and Japan Airlines. If the timetable is adhered to, this supersonic aircraft will be lighter thanks to the use of composite materials, and therefore more environmentally friendly. less expensive could be tested in 2020, initially with two passengers, before producing a 55-seat aircraft by 2025-2027. Why 55? Because this figure is based on the 55 % load factor recorded at the time by the British Airways Concorde on the London-New York route. According to Blake Scholl, CEO of Boom, "Passengers will be able to fly for a quarter of the price of a Concorde ticket, i.e. about the same price as today's business class."Unlike Concorde, which was aimed at an elite, the future Overture would target a much wider range of passengers, including a large number of business travellers. Blake Scholl mentions the possibility of linking London to Sao Paulo, San Francisco to Tokyo and Boston to Paris.
Concorde 2.0
Boeing is also taking a close look at the potential of ultra high-speed flight. The American manufacturer is supporting Aerion's AS2 project by investing in the development of this 12-seater business jet, which should take off in 2023 at a speed of 1,700 km/h. Better still, in 2018, the American manufacturer presented its hypersonic aircraft project, capable of flying at Mach 5 - over 6,100 km/h! - and at an altitude of 28.9 km. The aircraft is expected to enter service in 20 to 30 years' time.
As we await this new era, the latest developments in the market primarily concern very long-haul aircraft and single-aisle aircraft reconfigured for intercontinental flights. In the first category, theAirbus A350-900 and the Boeing B777x8 and B787-9 can now fly distances of over 15,000 km - up to 18 hours non-stop flight time - such as the Doha-Auckland service launched by Qatar Airways, the London-Perth proposed by Australia's Qantas or the Singapore-New York operated by Singapore Airlines. In the second category, Airbus presented a brand new aircraft at the Paris Air Show, theA321XLRThis is a relatively low-capacity aircraft - between 180 and 200 passengers - capable of covering a distance of 8,700 km in one go, 1,300 km more than the previous version of the A321. This is a real opportunity to make it more profitable to serve smaller airports. secondary townsThis will facilitate the creation of new point-to-point routes, such as Nice-Boston, Toulouse-Dubai, Barcelona-Chicago or Miami-Buenos Aires. It's certainly less spectacular than a future supersonic jet, but just as revolutionary for tomorrow's travellers. In fact, tomorrow is 2023.
In the meantime, the airline industry is working on another area, which is not exactly new, but which is clearly becoming urgent. global warming. This is particularly true in Scandinavian countries, led by Sweden, where a movement of unprecedented proportions is underway. Flygskamthe "shame of flying". Hence the boycott of domestic flights by some residents. In France, although we haven't reached that stage yet, some MPs have considered closing down airlines when trains can offer an alternative for journeys of less than five hours. This proposed law was eventually rejected, but according to a survey, 70 % of French people were in favour of it.
The last few months have seen an increase in the number of attacks on air transportThere is no doubt that, in theory at least, there is no justification for flying to the other side of the world to sign a contract or relax by the pool. Because, in theory at least, there's no reason to travel to the other side of the planet to sign a contract or relax by the pool.
Climate emergency
However, under the aegis of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), aircraft manufacturers and airlines have been working for more than a decade on numerous innovations to mitigate the sector's impact on the climate. A lot has already been done, but at the moment only few options which will drastically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. "Unless there is a radical paradigm shift, we will continue to depend on hydrocarbons for the foreseeable future."said Paul Eremenko, Technical Director of United Technologies, during the recent Paris Air Show.
Although aircraft are less polluting than they were a decade or two ago, there are more and more of them in the sky. And this is unlikely to change in the short term. After all, we're talking about a veritable addiction, that of the consumer king, whose travel has become an inseparable part of his lifestyle. Demand is increasingly strongThis is due in particular to the influence of low-cost airlines, but also to the growth of the middle classes in emerging countries. IATA also acknowledges that emissions generated by air transport are rising significantly, by an average of 3 % each year. And this is despite the fact that this growth is now two points lower than that of the total number of passengers (+5 %) due to the use of innovative technologies. According to figures published by the association, in 2017 air transport generated almost 860 million tonnes of CO2, i.e. 2 % emissions of this gas due to human activity. This is a long way behind what was generated on the same date by electricity (44 %), road transport (17 %) or the construction sector (10 %).
The weight of current electric batteries limits flights to little more than ten minutes. And even then, only if the aircraft is empty...
To make air transport as 'clean' as the train, the new benchmark for mobility, there is only one solution: to create new aircraft. more fuel-efficient while offering greater performance. More than speed, the reduction of emissions and the use of paraffin are the number 1 concern of aircraft manufacturers, both in terms of climate considerations and the instability of oil prices. The Airbus A350 and Boeing 737MAX have both made significant progress over the last decade. IATA points out that the paraffin consumption of the latest aircraft is just three litres per 100 km per passenger. Exactly the same figure as for a road vehicle, even though aircraft are four to five times faster!
Each new generation of aircraft reduces fuel consumption by an average of 20 % compared with previous models. In this respect, Grazia Vittadini, Airbus Technical Director, stated that "Today's aircraft are 75 % to 80 % less polluting in terms of CO2 emissions than the aircraft that criss-crossed the skies in the 1950s."And this is where new technologies come into play, to convert engines to hybrid consumption, either by mixing traditional paraffin with diesel, or by converting engines to hybrid consumption. biofuelsor by combining paraffin and electricity. There is one major problem for the latter: energy storage.
That's why United Technologies, at the Paris Air Show, was planning this "radical paradigm shiftThe "hybrid" propeller aircraft described above, partly powered by electric propulsion. It could be ready for its first tests by 2022, with the aim of obtaining certification for regional flights within the next decade. The energy used for take-off and climb should come from electric batteries. A technology which, if approved, would reduce fuel consumption by 30 % according to the American group's management.
Electricity in the air
However, engineers are going to have to be ingenious in order to create more efficient batteries. In fact, current models do not allow "all-electric" flights on medium-haul routes, let alone long-haul routes. According to Airbus experts, the weight of the batteries limits flights to ten minutes at most. And even then, only if the aircraft is empty... Still according to the European aircraft manufacturer, assuming that enormous progress is made, with future batteries thirty times more efficient than they are today, an A320-type aircraft could only use electric propulsion for a fifth of its flight.
For the moment, the future of electric aircraft is limited to very short journeys with small passenger modules. Boeing, for example, is working with JetSuite and Zunum Aero on a 12-seat hybrid aircraft, scheduled for launch around 2022. That same year, Alice, an all-electric aircraft from Israeli firm Eviation, is also due to take to the skies with nine passengers on board, covering a distance of up to 1,100 km at a speed of 440 km/h. However, and this is the big problemAt the same time, 80 % of the sector's emissions come from flights of more than 1,500 km, a distance that no electric airliner could yet cover. So how do you design electric batteries capable of lifting weights of up to 650 tonnes on take-off? Several projects are currently under development, with the Swiss bank UBS estimating sales of hybrid electric engines at $178 billion by 2040. Airbus, in partnership with Siemens and Rolls Royce, is tackling this juicy market with its E-Fan X, a hybrid-electric commercial aircraft engine that could equip the first test aircraft as early as next year.
Airlines are also taking an interest in this development. Norwegian carrier Wideroe, for example, is supporting the local Ministry of Transport's initiative to switch all domestic routes to all-electric by 2040. easyJet, for its part, has been working for over a year with start-up Wright Electric on the development of a 180-seat aircraft with purely electric propulsion. For its part, the British carrier is counting on a launch around 2030. This prompted easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren to say in an interview with CNN that "electric flight is becoming a reality and we can now look forward to a future in aviation that is not exclusively dependent on paraffin". EasyJet estimates the range of the future electric aircraft at 500 km, ideal for routes as busy as Amsterdam-London or Paris-London. Getting started.
