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 percent less fuel.

“We’ve been flying these tube and wing airplanes for many years now, but it looks as if the configuration is reaching a plateau in terms of energy efficiency,” TU Delft project leader Roelof Vos told CNN. “The new configuration that we propose realizes some synergy between the fuselage and also the wing. The fuselage actively contributes to the lift of the airplane, and creates less aerodynamic drag.”