Flying sucks. Between the lousy service, lost luggage and inevitable delays, nothing about it can be called fun. But the folks at Finnair have looked into their crystal ball and seen a future where flying is green, serene and — dare we say it — enjoyable.
The Finnish carrier is celebrating its 85th anniversary and, curious to see how air travel might look that far in the future, invited academics, business types and journalists to tell us what we might see in 2093. Their vision is laid out on the website Departure 2093: Five Visions on Future Flying, and it includes sleek planes that run on algae and venture into space, airlines that offer everything from personal flight attendants to pre-flight yoga and an industry that — gasp! — runs efficiently.
Departure 2093 is full of cool ideas, but it's hard to know which are real and which are just wishful thinking from an industry that really couldn't make air travel any worse. Besides — you'd think 85 years would be long enough to straighten it all out.
There's a lot of talk in the industry about going green and finding alternatives to petroleum-based fuels. Airlines took a beating on fuel prices last year, and the E.U. is coming down hard on aircraft emissions. Paul Steele of the International Air Transport Association predicts on the website that algae-derived biofuels will be commonplace by 2093. He's also gung-ho for hydrogen despite the hurdles. Boeing is among the companies experimenting with hydrogen, and Steele thinks we'll see the first H-powered flights by the mid to late 2050s.
Steele says more efficient management of flights once they're in the air also will make the industry greener. Fragmented air traffic control operations will be consolidated into a "Single European Sky" and continuous descent approaches will increase fuel efficiency. Professor Sirkka Heinonen of the Finland Futures Research Centre goes a step further, predicting airspace will be better utilized through the use of Battlestar Galactica-style "controlled jumps." (We're all Cylons, and we have been from the start.)
But that's nothing. Heikki Haapavaara, a journalist and the chairman of the Finnish Association of Aviation Journalists (sign us up) says Finnair will route its long-haul traffic through space and offer convenient nonstop service to space-station cities.
That's all well and good, but what will flying be like?
Well, by 2093 we'll no longer kill time at the gate and waste time in long lines. Finnair''s seers say we'll arrive at the gate and take our seats in a passenger module that, once full, will be loaded onto our waiting plane.
Those planes, by way, will essentially be airborne cruise ships offering everything from gourmet meals to wellness services, predicts Ingo Wuggetzer of Airbus. Given what Emirates has done with its Airbus A380s, it's entirely possible. Wuggetzer suggests flights will be free and airlines will make their money on the perks. He may be on to something — Finnish PR firm Miltton says tomorrow's travelers want personal flight attendants, pre-flight yoga lounges, sleeping pods and meals featuring something called "eco-food."
The planes we'll fly in could be no less radical than the perks available on them. It won't be long before the narrow metal tubes we're used to flying in will be replaced by sleek blended wing planes that can carry more than 1,000 people. Superquiet small planes will hop between Podunk airports. This is where Departure 2093 gets really interesting.
Finnair invited designer and aviation nut Kauko Helavuo to dream up six planes he thinks we'd see by 2093, and they're all pretty freakin' cool. They range from the A600, a supersonic zero-emission aircraft that resembles the Concorde and cruises at more than four times the speed of sound, to the donut-shaped A1700 that carries 2,400 people and includes a beauty parlor, gym and, um, hologram movies. For families on the go, Helavou designed the "aircraft for everyone," a three passenger, Jetsons-style rotor craft that features solar panels and a cruising speed of 150 mph. It's all pretty wild, but Helavuo says it's not completely pie in the sky.
"When producing pictures and texts for this publication I have tried to combine present technology with future solutions — many innovations are already clearly predictable," he wrote. "To this process can be added a considerable amount of lateral thinking, creative imagination and work."
Of course, any website that says "air transport is, in principle, an extremely ecological way of moving around," is definitely bringing an agenda to the table. But that said, some of the ideas borne of Departure 2093 are within the realm of possibility. Check 'em out and use the Reddit widget to let us know what you'd like to see in 2093 and what you think of everyone else's ideas.
Images: Finnair. Used with permission.
See also:
- Boeing Has Seen the Future, and It Includes Hydrogen
- Algae Farm to Produce 4.4 Million Gallons of Experimental Jet Fuel
- NASA's Blended Wing Body Aircraft Picks Up Speed
- Clean(er), Quiet(er) Landings Coming to An Airport Near You
- Ryanair Plans $15 Flights to Europe
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