My wife and I have four young children who have traveled with us all over the country.
Startup CEO shares his plan for a radical 'blended wing' jet to rival Boeing and Airbus
25.10.2024 - 16:17 / insider.com
Aircraft manufacturer Natilus wants to build a new type of airliner to rival Airbus and Boeing as the industry demands more efficient planes.
The California-based startup has announced plans for a 200-passenger "blended wing body" aircraft called Horizon. It could hold about the same number of people as a Boeing 737 Max but would look very different —and improve efficiency by up to 50%.
Like the company's in-development "Kona" cargo plane, Horizon ventures away from the traditional "tube-and-wing" design that has existed since the dawn of commercial aviation.
CEO Aleksey Matyushev told Business Insider that the futuristic concept, which combines the wind and fuselage into one, should be ready for a commercial launch expected in the early 2030s.
He hopes the unique offering — with an even more unique cabin — could puncture the industry's duopoly of Airbus and Boeing, which have long dominated the commercial aviation market. Both companies are also battling supply chain issues, and Boeing continues to struggle with quality and production problems.
"We decided to move into the narrowbody market because it's the biggest opportunity over the next 20 years," he said. "40,000 new narrowbody airplanes need to be built in that time, but Airbus and Boeing's capacity outlook shows they can only produce 15,000 each, so we want to fill that capacity."
Airlines have largely moved to narrowbody jets, like the Boeing 737 Max and the Airbus A320neo. These next-generation airplanes have an efficient passenger-to-fuel ratio, are cheaper to operate than bigger models, and can meet versatile route needs from short- and medium-haul to longer treks to Europe and Hawaii from the US.
Many airlines are going green in part by introducing the use of sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF.
While the strategy does lower the airlines' overall carbon footprint, experts have previously told BI that biofuel is expensive and won't be available in the quantities needed to hit the industry's 2050 net-zero goal.
Matyushev said the more fuel-friendly BWB design won't solely rely on SAF but instead benefit from less drag and better lift.
"In a traditional tube-and-wing configuration, the wing provides 90% of the lift and the fuselage 10%," he explained. "On a BWB, it's about 60% on the wing and 40% on the fuselage."
Because it's basically one big wing, the plane's design creates a more "cavernous environment" that improves aerodynamic fuel efficiency by 30% compared to traditional planes like the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320, Matyushev said.
He further explained that, because it can also carry more people and weighs less, Horizon could be up to 50% more fuel efficient per passenger.
And, despite its futuristic shape, Matyushev said Horizon
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