Imagine getting on a plane and finding your cabin baggage already in the over head bin when you reach your seat. When you sit down, the seat adapts to your body shape and absorbs your surplus energy to power the plane. The cabin is transparent and as you gaze out at a far distant peak a hologram pop up to tell you its name and how high it is.
This is a look inside the Airbus Future Concept Plane, part of their 2050 vision of the future. According to Ian Scoley, Airbus head of industrial design in an airbus.com video: “The cabin membrane allows the interior to go transparent or opaque or even control the quality of the air that comes in, so if you are feeling tired or dehydrated it can bring water or ionisation into the air to make you feel better.
“We are using holographic displays and intelligent gestural controls, which mean we have a virtual environment combined with a human environment – one second you’re trying on clothes with a virtual screen, and the next you could be having a beer with someone on the other side of the planet.”
And it’s goodbye to economy, business and first class cabins, the mid- to long-haul Concept Plane flies 250 to 350 passengers and will have three zones – Vitalising, Interaction and Smart Tech. So basically, this 'intelligent' concept cabin of the aircraft of the future has first, business and economy cabins replaced by three zones: relaxation in the front, work in the back, and a bar for socializing. Passengers will be able to see everything around them. Not good for nervous flyers who might want to use those old-tech eye shades for take off and landing.
In-flight entertainment will be powered by passengers' body heat. Apparently the technology even means travellers could read bedtime stories to the kids back home on the ground. How Airbus plan to make the plant-based, transparent aircraft 'skin' remains a bit of a mystery, but its fun to imagine it anyway.
Each experience will still, however, be linked to your budget – in short, airlines still need to make money. The fantasy extends to the possibility of enjoying a round of virtual golf or a cocktail at the pop-up bar, before returning to your seat in the tech zone at the back for a movie or chat with your family back home on your personal, gesture-controlled screen. It goes without saying the aircraft would have mobile phones, wifi, the works, for connectivity anywhere you want.