New “Flying-V” Plane Burns 20 Percent Less Fuel & Can Carry More Than 300 Passengers
Airlines are testing all forms of ways to create planes less of a haul on the environment. Virgin Atlantic recently used recycled waste to power a billboard flight, while Boeing and JetBlue have backed a shot to make hybrid-electric planes. The Netherlands ’ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is taking a distinct approach. It just partnered with a university to develop the “Flying-V,” a radical new airplane design that puts passenger seats inside the plane’s wings — and it could decrease the number of fuel needed for flights by a considerable 20 percent. On Monday, KLM announced plans to collaborate with the Delft University of Technology on the school’s in-development Flying-V airplane design. And it doesn’t just put passengers within the plane’s wings — the fuel tanks and hold also will find a brand new home there. Based on the researchers’ calculations, the new design should allow the Flying-V to move approximately the identical number of passengers as an Airbus A350 using 20 perc...