Is This What Flying Will Look Like in 2050? Airbus Imagines ‘Plane of the Future’

Inside the cabin, an interactive wall membrane would control air temperature and would have the capability to become transparent for views of the sky.

Another section of the plane, called the vitalizing zone, would provide passengers with vitamin and antioxidant-infused air, aromatherapy and acupressure treatments.

Airbus hopes to make this cabin of the future a tailored experience for each individual passenger. In the Smart-Tech Zone, seen here, a person who loves gadgets could use body-conforming seats to harvest his or her body heat in order to power things like holographic screens.

In a diagram reminiscent of people using gaming platforms like Kinect or Wii, the Airbus design gives a glimpse of its interactive zone, which would allow passengers to play virtual games of golf, for example. One idea would be that the air traveler could play a virtual game with someone on the ground or on another flight. ... Another idea would allow a passenger to visit a virtual changing room to fulfill his or her shopping needs.

MORE

While this might not be the most useful feature during a stormy or turbulent flight, when the weather is calm and the skies are clear, passengers would be able to see outside with a panoramic view.

This X-ray view of the Concept Cabin shows what the birdlike structure of the plane would look like.


While it's far too early to speculate at what the costs of such a flight would be, Airbus noted that "by offering different levels of experience in each zone," airlines would be able to have various price levels to give more ... people access.

MORE