A scale model of the Airbus Blended-Wing Body concept aircraft, which would run on hydrogen.Richard Baker/Image via Getty Images
The Airbus CEO said the next generation of commercial jets could look like the B-2 bomber.
The design combines the fuselage and wings into one giant wing with the cabin built inside.
It promises better fuel burn and room for passengers, but may have few windows.
The future of aviation could look surprisingly similar to the triangular paper airplanes you folded as a child.
In an interview with Tobias Fuchs and Martin Murphy at German newspaper Bild, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that in the next 30 or 40 years, plane makers may ditch the traditional tube-and-wing structure for a single thick wing with the passenger cabin built inside.
This design—known as a “blended-wing body” or BWB—distributes lift over the entire swept wing, allowing for greater lift capacity and greater efficiency than conventional jets. Faury said a wide-skirted aircraft would be “better suited” to the concept.
He added that the benefits of BWB come with trade-offs, including the possibility of removing windows. Passengers would not get any natural light, and some could become disoriented or experience claustrophobia.
A rendering of the proposed economy section of Airbus’s ZEROe BWB.Airbus
Emergency evacuations could also be challenging: passengers and crew would have no view of what was happening outside, and those in the center of the cabin would be farther from the exits than on today’s planes.
Faury’s comments are the latest sign that Airbus sees opportunities in blended wing design, an area where it faces competition from new planemakers looking to overtake Airbus in the market. BWB design has a long history.
The Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber – often cited as the best-known “flying wing” aircraft – first flew in 1989. Although the BWB concept dates back even further, renewed interest emerged in the early 1990s when McDonnell Douglas explored a combined wing transport idea that eventually evolved into the BWB-17.
After McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997, Boeing continued work with NASA to produce the X-48 series of subscale demonstrators until the program ended in 2013.
The X-48 series was remotely piloted.Heritage Space/Heritage Images via Getty Images
But to date, no full-size passenger BWB has been certified or flown, and Boeing has announced no plans to develop its own.
For its part, Airbus has been exploring BWB since 2017, and the 200-strong company’s design is a key pillar of its ZEROe initiative for zero-emissions aviation.
In 2019, the company flew a small-scale demonstrator that showed potential major fuel savings — estimated at around 20 percent — and new cabin layouts made possible by the wider interior. The long-term vision includes running these aircraft on hydrogen rather than traditional fuel.
But despite the early push, Airbus has pushed back its original ZEROe 2035 timeline by up to 10 years.
Airbus cited challenges related to the complexity of certification, limited global hydrogen infrastructure and uncertainty around passenger acceptance – especially when some seats could be positioned away from natural light.
However, the BWB race is far from just an Airbus effort.
Aviation startups such as Natilus and JetZero are betting that BWB’s unconventional shape could help break up the traditional Boeing-Airbus duopoly, both targeting launches in the early 2030s.
The 1:8 scale Pathfinder will help develop the full scale demonstrator.JetZero
San Diego-based Natilus is developing a narrow-body version called the Horizon to rival the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, promising about 25 percent lower fuel consumption but 40 percent more cabin space. And it can integrate into existing airport infrastructure.
The company’s CEO, Aleksey Matyushev, previously told Business Insider that the industry could face a shortfall of about 40,000 narrow-body aircraft over the next 20 years — a number he said is far more than the two players can realistically supply.
Matyushev added that the Horizon’s larger cabin footprint could allow for wider seats, dedicated family areas and other special features that go beyond what today’s narrow-body planes offer.
Renderings of Horizon’s proposed cabin, released in July, show up to three colors instead of the traditional one or two. Matyushev confirmed to Business Insider that the plane will have windows everywhere.
The rendering above shows Natilus’ proposed “privacy pods” aboard the BWB wide-body jetliner.Stealing
Center seat passengers will still be farther from the windows, but Natilus said they are adding skylights and other lighting strategies to mimic the outdoors.
Meanwhile, 160 miles north in Long Beach, JetZero is pursuing a wide-body version called the “Z4” that promises up to 50 percent lower fuel consumption and could replace planes like the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330.
The plane would have similar advantages to the Horizon in terms of airport compatibility and seating layout.
JetZero has already attracted interest from United Airlines. In April, United Airlines Ventures, the division that invests in these innovative planes, said it plans to buy up to 200 250-seat Z4s from JetZero.
CEO Andrew Chang previously told Business Insider that the aircraft’s expansive interior could be a game-changer, which feels like a “living room in the sky.”
JetZero successfully flew a subscale prototype called Pathfinder in 2024.
