The future of flightAirbus unveils its 2050 vision for “Smarter Skies”

Global aircraft manufacturer Airbus the other day released the latest installment of the Future by Airbus, its vision for sustainable aviation in 2050 and beyond. The company notes that for the first time the vision looks beyond aircraft design to how the aircraft is operated both on the ground and in the air in order to meet the expected growth in air travel in a sustainable way.

Charles Champion, executive vice president engineering at Airbus, says: “Our engineers are continuously encouraged to think widely and come up with `disruptive’ ideas which will assist our industry in meeting the 2050 targets we have signed up to. These and the other tough environmental targets will only be met by a combination of investment in smarter aircraft design and optimizing the environment in which the aircraft operates. That is why our latest Future by Airbus Smarter Skies concepts focus on not just what we fly but, how we may fly in 2050 and beyond.”

Airbus says that already today, if the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system and technology on board the aircraft were optimized, Airbus research based on recent research suggests that flights in Europe and the United States could on average be around thirteen minutes shorter, and flights in other parts of the world could be shorter too. Assuming around thirty million flights per year, this would save around nine million tons of excess fuel annually, which equates to over twenty-eight million tons of avoidable CO2 emissions and a saving of five million hours of excess flight time. Add to this new aircraft design, alternative energy sources, and new ways of flying and you could see even more significant improvements.

The Future by Airbus concentrates on just that and the Smarter Skies vision consists of five concepts which could be implemented across all the stages of an aircraft’s operation to reduce waste in the system (waste in time, waste in fuel, reduction of CO2). These are:

Aircraft take-off in continuous “eco-climb”

• Aircraft launched through assisted take-offs using renewably powered, propelled acceleration, allowing steeper climb from airports to minimize noise and reach efficient cruise altitudes quicker.
• As space becomes a premium and mega-cities become a reality, this approach could also minimize land use, as shorter runways could be utilized.

Aircraft in free flight and formation along “express skyways”

• Highly intelligent aircraft would be able to “self-organize” and select the most efficient and environmentally friendly routes (“free flight”), making the optimum