Horizon promises greener flights and more comfort for passengers, thanks to its innovative design.
This new blended-wing passenger aircraft opens a completely new window for fresh interior configurations while reducing carbon emissions substantially. A San Diego-based Natilus concept envisions accommodating about 200 passengers with just half the amount of emission of the current Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.
While air travel demand worldwide is still high, aviation emissions have grown in recent years faster than those from rail, road, or maritime transport. The trend has been quite slow to reverse.
SAF could account for two-thirds of the reductions the aviation sector needs to reach its net-zero goal by 2050 since that type of fuel can reduce emissions by 80% when it is produced and used correctly. But for now, SAF remains scarce; it is projected to be around 0.53% of total jet fuel consumption in 2024, quite a distance from what is needed for a great impact to be truly felt.
While airlines and regulators are in a rush to find solutions for decarbonizing the industry, some engineers believe that what is needed is a radically new airplane design to achieve significant fuel savings and cuts in emissions.
That means abandoning the traditional "tube and wing" configuration that has characterized commercial aviation for the past century and replacing it with a "blended wing body" configuration where the wing area merges smoothly with the fuselage to produce an airplane that looks quite unlike any other.
Airbus built a small-scale, radio-controlled blended wing model in 2020 to test an aircraft design that promises to potentially save as much as 20% in fuel consumption.
In 2023, California-based JetZero unveiled plans for a similarly designed aircraft with the ability to carry more than 200 passengers and an ambitious goal of entering service by 2030.
This is now being joined by Natilus and its Horizon aircraft, another blended wing design; this one also is targeting the carriage of about 200 passengers and expects to cut emissions in half and fuel use by 30% compared to current models.
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