Shaping the future of aviation

Citation

(2005), "Shaping the future of aviation", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 77 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2005.12777aaf.006

Shaping the future of aviation

Shaping the future of aviation

Keywords: Airbus, Aircraft industry

Airbus states that through technical innovation, it is shaping the future of aviation with a long-term research strategy that will lay the foundations for all future aircraft development.

The aircraft manufacturer has identified four key themes that will direct this long-term research strategy. These include environmental friendliness, low-cost aircraft manufacturing and operations, high passenger payloads and high-speed travel.

Airbus has created four separate exploratory aircraft concepts that correspond to each of the four themes.

Airbus believes that it can deliver on each theme in the future. These concepts are not necessarily intended as future Airbus products, but instead to provide a technology foundation for future aircraft developments.

Grouped under each concept are a number of individual research projects that focus on each of Airbus' key themes. These projects explore both existing and potential component and system design innovations, which will eventually enable Airbus to develop the engineering capabilities it need to react quickly to future market requirements.

Airbus' first key theme, environmental friendliness, is driven by the increasing pressure for “greener” aircraft from within society and from state authorities. Aircraft manufacturers will be obliged to incorporate more environmentally friendly designs into their aircraft. As such, Airbus is looking at a number of ways to create even more environmentally efficient aircraft, including reducing drag and aircraft noise as well as boosting fuel efficiency.

The upsurge of low-cost air travel and the continued rise in numbers of new low-cost carriers show no sign of slowing as passengers seek out the lowest air fares. Based on a very specific business model, low-cost airlines need reliable, efficient aircraft that are also relatively cheap to buy and operate. To offer such competitively priced aircraft an aircraft manufacturer must drive down its manufacturing and raw materials cost. To find the solution Airbus is, for example, playing a leading role in the pan-European research project TANGO. Reducing the weight of the materials used by 20 per cent and the cost of manufacturing major aircraft components by the same margin are among the key goals of this project. Other Airbus research projects focusing on cost efficiency include simplifying the design of components such as wing flaps, and designing flight controls and avionics for easier and cheaper maintenance.

Airbus' third key theme is concerned with higher passenger numbers and aircraft able to carry substantially more people than today's aeroplanes. Airbus market predictions point to continued and significant growth in air travel, with passenger numbers increasing by around 5 per cent a year. This is magnified by the anticipated future growth in densely populated countries, such as China and India, where people currently only take around 0.05 and 0.02 air journeys a year, respectively. This is in comparison to 2.2 trips in the United States. Airbus experts believe that manufacturers may have to radically rethink how they design aircraft if they are to carry even more passengers than today. One possible design is the blended-wing-body concept, where passengers are seated throughout the aircraft's entire structure, including within the wings.

Finally, the recent retirement of Concorde from service means there is now no supersonic aircraft available. Yet, Airbus believes that in the future a demand for high-speed travel could emerge that would justify the design of a new supersonic aircraft. For this reason Airbus' studies focus on optimising aerodynamic performance and using the most innovative, light materials to help achieve ultra high speeds.

To foster innovation Airbus is closely cooperating with research establishments, universities and its industrial partners.