Future airliners?

Within the next 3 - 5 years, we are expecting to see a number of new aircraft from the main two producers, Airbus and Boeing, namely being the 787, the A350 and the A380. But what else is there planned? This information is taken from several sources.

Airbus -
In an earlier post, I raised the possibility of a new A390 supersonic jet based on information from a friend at Rolls Royce. This has yet to be confirmed, so I wont dwell on it.

The A390 designation also popped up in July 2004, when Airbus tentatively announced plans to research a 2600 passenger jet based on a cross between the A380 and the A300-600ST Beluga. The aircraft would have a seven deck layout, and a range of 9,000nm. There has only been one announcement tho, so it seems likely that Airbus have dropped this project for now.

The A300/A310 aircraft are reaching the end of their production runs, so it is likely that either new aircraft models will be created to fill the void, or other models will have variants created to provide for the same market. Airbus is looking into producing a stretched version of the A320, called the A322, and also a reduced size version of the A330, called the A330-500. It is likely however that a new aircraft, given the A305 by Airbus, will be produced to bridge the gap between the 120 passenger capacity of the A320 and the 230 passenger capacity of the A330.

Boeing -
Boeing announced in the early 1990s a program to develop a fully double decker version of the 747, called the 747x, but it shelved plans when it saw that Airbus was ahead of it on the development side, and any late-to-market offerings would suffer a distinct disadvantage in the very small market that is the Super Heavies class. For now, it would seem that the 747x has been shelved, tho Boeing has indicated that if the market for such a class does improve, it could start producing them.

One project that was heavily researched after airlines said they would prefer a new model rather than an uprated 747 version, was the 763-246C concept. An ultrawidebodied aircraft, seating between 450 and 550 passengers in a 2-4-4-2 configuration, with sleeping berths on an upper deck. THis program has been temporarily suspended due to lack of market space at the high end.

With the loss of the 757, Boeing settled on the 787 (origionally called the 7E7 or Project Yellowstone) to cover this class of aircraft, as well as providing for a more efficient alternative to the 767, A330 and A340 over certain routes.

Boeing hoped to catch the markets attention with the Sonic Cruiser concept, a sleekly designed aircraft which was meant to cruise at Mach 0.95 efficiently. The program was announced in 2001 and was meant to be a 767/A320 competitor aircraft, with a range of 9,000 to 11,000nm. The program was shelved in December 2002 due to poor reception after September 11th 2001. This is a pity because its a damn nice looking aircraft - one I would have loved to fly in.

The only program known to be under active development within Boeing at the moment, is the Blended Wing Body aircraft, designed to carry anything from 500 to 800 passengers in a non conventional flattened spherical cabin, on a two deck basis. This would be an interesting concept to see in production, but Boeing has yet to announce any plans for a production model. I hope this one makes it!

I wonder if Airbus would choose to use the designation 'A900' for its supersonic family - if it ever happened, it would be a neat reference to the types speed and differentiate it from the rest of the line up?

PS Richard, are you sure about this 'seven decks' business? It sounds like it would make for an extremely tall aircraft!

[edit on 1-4-2005 by waynos]

I think that the rally exciting news is coming from neither the US nor France, but Canada and Brazil.

My bet is that within a year or so both Bombardier and EMBRAER will announce 100+ passenger airlines which will, for the first time, compete directly with Boeing and Airbus offerings.

It's my belief that within the next 20-30 years, air transportation will come to the family in a personal form. Airliners may go the way of the dinosoars.

Then of of course the airline industry would have to compete in the space travel area, transporting large numbers of people to and from destinations on the moon and in Earth-orbiting resorts.

BTW, sub-sonic air-travel is boring and a waste of time.

Originally posted by Intelearthling


BTW, sub-sonic air-travel is boring and a waste of time.

and currently the only way to travel

unless you want to go slower

Originally posted by waynos
I wonder if Airbus would choose to use the designation 'A900' for its supersonic family - if it ever happened, it would be a neat reference to the types speed and differentiate it from the rest of the line up?

PS Richard, are you sure about this 'seven decks' business? It sounds like it would make for an extremely tall aircraft!

[edit on 1-4-2005 by waynos]

Its interesting about the A900, I dunno if they would stray from the A3XX business tho for the time being. I do know for a fact taht there wont be a A370 in the forseeable future tho, Airbus refuses to consider that as a designation for any aircraft (due to the '7's link to Boeing apparently).

About the 7 decks, yes I was surprised to see that claim, but when you think about it, the Beluga is HUGE, but now I think about it, 7 stories is a bit large! 4 or 5 maybe.

As part of a continuing topic on ATS, I intend on doing a 'Past' 'Present' and 'Future' history guide to all major airline producers. So watch this space!

Richard, with that in mind have a look and see what you think of this idea.

www.belowtopsecret.com...

Waynos - nice idea and Im all for it, one problem tho If we moved all 'non conspiracy' threads to BTS, this forum will be pretty much empty 99% of the Aircraft Projects forums posts seem to be about Boeing vs Airbus (and related financial issues), non secret military aircraft, postings of interesting pictures or sites etc. Very little actual meaty secret stuff tends to be discussed (and even then, most of it is ''hey, i think i saw Aurora!").

Ill back you for a BTS forum, as theres plenty I have to say on civilian airliners (which for some reason I tend to like more than military aircraft).

That was my point exactly when I queried the quiz thread being shunted, and after all the time and effort that went in too, but the response I recieved was that ALL non conspiracy threads were to be removed as this board is more for black projects and conspiracies, hence the idea.

Originally posted by RichardPrice

The only program known to be under active development within Boeing at the moment, is the Blended Wing Body aircraft, designed to carry anything from 500 to 800 passengers in a non conventional flattened spherical cabin, on a two deck basis. This would be an interesting concept to see in production, but Boeing has yet to announce any plans for a production model. I hope this one makes it!

Unfortunately this has reported (mid 2004) as being quietly shelved and it must be noted that Boeing have removed the Blended Wing Body section has been removed from their website