Concept Aircraft

German clean aviation companies H2Fly and Deutsche Aircraft are joining forces to develop a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered airliner capable of carrying 40 people, with a demonstration aircraft set to take its first flights in 2025.

Shifting to alternative propulsion technologies could go a long way toward cleaning up the pollution created by the aviation sector, and a new design by MIT scientists could cut as much as 95 percent of a plane’s harmful nitrogen oxide emissions.

With the move towards electric aviation comes new opportunities to explore what a powertrain looks like, and Airbus is experimenting with a new design that builds entire hydrogen propulsion units, tanks and all, into detachable pods along the wings.

Looking forward to a zero-emission future for the commercial aircraft industry, Airbus has revealed three hydrogen-fueled concepts, including a striking blended wing design, with the aim of putting the first flyer into service by 2035.

Virgin Galactic has taken the wraps off a new commercial jet concept that would fly at three times the speed of sound. The company has enlisted Rolls-Royce to design and develop the engine to power the delta-wing aircraft.

In an effort to spark the imagination of the next generation of aeronautical engineers, Airbus has unveiled its new Bird of Prey concept aircraft. The bird-like hybrid-electric, turbo-propeller regional transport aircraft features anatomical features of eagles or falcons.

When Gibson introduced the Flying V electric guitar in 1958, it divided opinion. A bold new aviation concept out of TU Delft is sure to do the same. Wearing the same moniker as Gibson's iconic instrument, the design is aimed at improving aircraft efficiency and sustainability.

​As successful as the Rolls-Royce name has been in luxury cars, it's been far bigger in aeronautics. So when these guys announce a four- to five-passenger hybrid electric/turbine VTOL aircraft with a 250-mph top speed and a 500-mile range, it's worth listening.

Boeing has provided a glimpse of the future with the release of an image of its hypersonic passenger plane concept. It depicts a civilian aircraft capable of traveling at over five times the speed of sound and is intended to give the public some idea of what air travel could be like in the future.

Yes, that's a head poking out the end of this terrifying personal flight concept. Called the Dart Flyer, it's essentially a quadcopter with a winged pilot cocoon on top of it. Definitely not one for nervous flyers, it's been submitted as a contender in the GoFly challenge, sponsored by Boeing.

​Biologists will already know that Neoptera is a major taxonomic group, which includes almost all winged insects. Now, however, it turns out to also be the name of a planned electric VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) light aircraft.

NASA is developing a series of new X-planes that include one concept that uses the air flowing along the fuselage to reduce fuel consumption. The STARC-ABL propulsor harvests a jet airliner's boundary layer to provide more thrust with a 10 percent increase in efficiency.