North Carolina is betting big taxpayer dollars that the future for airline travel is a blended wing design. The state has given JetZero $4.7 billion in incentives to build an eight-million-square-foot factory and development center in Greensboro for its Z4 airliner. The company ceremonially broke ground on the first phase of construction on a 600-acre site last week. United Airlines is ordering up to 200 aircraft, and the Air Force is paying $235 million for the development of a flying prototype expected to be finished in 2027. The military is particularly interested in an aerial refueling version.
JetZero is projecting a 50% fuel savings with the all-wing design that will hold 250 passengers in a theater-like cabin with four aisles. It is expected to have a 5,000-mile range. The company expects to employ 14,500 people after the project is built out and that fits with North Carolina’s plan to become an aerospace hub. “JetZero’s decision to build here is a vote of confidence in North Carolina’s workforce, our universities and community colleges, and our long aerospace tradition,” said Gov. Josh Stein.
Unpressurized tanker maybe–passenger transport unlikely.
Why do you say “unlikely”? Yes, it’s a very different design, but if it saves only 25% on fuel, airlines would be very interested. I hope it’s a huge success – help keep Boeing and Airbus on their toes.
It sounds like an awful way to fly with a very low chance of getting a window seat. As a pilot I don’t want to be in a flying “theatre”.
I would 100% agree with you, except have you flown lately? No matter the time, no matter the route, everyone immediately closes their window shades so they can see their phones//tablets/computers better. I don’t fly a ton, but the last 10 flights over the last 6 months have seen very very few people with their window shades open (except during takeoff and landing, obviously). I always thought a window was a requirement, it’s apparently now a nuisance!
I totally relate. It really annoys me when I just want to sit back and enjoy the landscape passing by (also searching for airports on my iPad in Foreflight). Why people would rather stare at their phones or watch a movie when the whole world is there to appreciate in a new way, is beyond me. At night on a transatlantic flight, I understand the cocooning instinct but daytime across the continental U.S. you can see some amazing sights.
What if they simply put a display of the aircraft exterior at each seat?
I believe a proposed interior had continuous flat screens, (with live view of the outdoors) along the sides in lieu of windows.
If they gave you more space and leg room it might be worth it. But they’ll probably just cram in as many seats as possible, so it’ll still be sardines but in a bigger can.
2027? Okay bud.
Jet “Nikola” Zero.
I wonder if it will need a waiver for the evacuation standards?
Jet Zero sounds like a new sugar free energy drink. 😉
Seriously though, I agree with Fsrmrjohn about the ability to meet FAA emergency evacuation requirements. Funneling four rows of panicked passengers to exits should be an interesting process.
I wish all concerned every success, particularly after the North Carolina legislators bet $4.7 billion dollars of there constituent’s money on a long shot.
The concept has been around for decades, but it is noticeable that a major airframe manufacturer spent some time and money developing it and then decided to pass.
United Airlines may have an option to order up to 200 airplanes, but I highly doubt they have put much monetary skin in the game. The DOD”s investment is real, but it will take considerably more money than that to support a production facility of that size employing that many people. The $4.7 billion taxpayer investment is likely mostly in the form of potential tax relief and not up front “seed” money.
I am most skeptical of their projection of a flying prototype in the air in 2027, unless it is a very small light airplane.
I would love to be proven wrong, however. Most people thought Wilbur and Orville were crackpots and they did OK. And they did it partly in North Carolina as well.
Now most people think different means better and assume the dismissal of BWB is incumbents conspiracy.
You could play handball on this flight deck. It’s huge! https://www.jetzero.aero/news
1) Theatre Seating: Latest flights I’ve been on has probably 60-70% of the windows closed. Sad, the world is so beautiful from FL360. I think the flying public would buy it but I wouldn’t be happy.
2) Egress: Just ask Boeing. They’ve had a heck of a time certifying the B737-MAX9s. – Jet Zero will have to prove that they can get 250 pax out of the aircraft in 90 sec with 50% of the egress exits inoperable. Not an easy task especially if you’re 15 seats away from the end! The FAA is very picky about this.
3) Design: It’ll have to be composite. If it were a conventional design, each frame would differ from the previous. The Lockheed Constellation suffered from high manufacturing costs by not having constant/ repetitive fuselage frame sections.
>>> Good luck Jet Zero!
Good points, however the fuselage frame difference is not that much of an issue, witness the rather successful B747, where very few fuselage frames are the same.
That said, it DOES make the design harder to stretch, one reason the B747 stuck with the same fuselage length for its variants through the -400, and made the SP tricky to shrink.
Somewhere I read that the issue with these flying wing types is that seats on the outside would have quite the ride in turns. One may enjoy the window view and get a carnival ride along with it.
2027 seems beyond bold for a flying prototype. This must be a thing with current CEOs, promise something spectacular with an impossible time line and later say, “so sorry, I promise by next year”.
Folks talk about egress, when I look at a AB380 with close to 400 passengers I ask, could they realistically unload in 90 secs? I mean do the math, that 4 passengers *per sec*. In a test maybe, but in real life? If they get this flying we may see an FAA waiver magically appear (or a more typical, nothing to see here move along)
“[…] the issue with these flying wing types is that seats on the outside would have quite the ride in turns.”
And with a cabin that is much wider than it is long (for a ‘true’ flying wing), you’d end up with a fair number of ‘roller coaster’ seats.
But this is a Blended Wing Body (BWB),with a much narrower cabin section than a wing would have, resulting in lower oscillations.
I haven’t seen any performance numbers. Wonder if it will be a runway hog like the Starship.
Windows are handy for egress, to determine which side has the least fire. In the EU and IIRC Japan the shades are required to be open for takeoff and landing for that reason.
Not that pax care, I see people kick off their shoes as soon as they sit down- would be fun egressing barefoot.
Jet Zero is going to have a flying prototype in late 2027? Certainly not built in North Carolina. Ground is just now being broken for first phase of construction? We are looking years for a functional first phase of building an airplane, let alone a functioning first phase of factory construction. 14,500 employed, well trained, credentialed for aircraft design and construction? Where are they coming from? We have ‘puppy mill” airline flight training. When, where, and how is the “puppy mill” aircraft maintenance side of this endeavor coming from?
What amazes me is how easy it is to get the military, state politicians, Congress, and ultimately the middle class taxpayer to pay for this pregnant flying wing to the tune of $4.7 billion plus $275 million from the DOD…making a $5 billion commitment up front for an airplane with no factory yet, no prototype as yet, with a design that has enough lineage…thank you Jack Northrup…to prove some sort of flight viability…but not as a passenger airliner. It seems to me, the public is so wearied by daily news flashes ranging from war to fraud, to national debt…we taxpayers have completely lost sight of what these dollar numbers really mean. Hell, another $275 million spent by the DOD, who spends easily that much for one or two military airplanes, local city or town budgets going into billions of dollars, who cares about another $5 billion dollars…chump change…honey, pass me the potato’s. As if this investment spending of $5 billion in addition to $40 trillion of national debt, $132 billion according to Moody for this war against Iran so far, a moon launch, funding Israel and Ukraine, and paying Elon for all sorts of AI shenanigans and Starlink…(by the way, Elon claims he is losing money)…before going public…as if all this money is growing on trees. I certainly did not see any sort of regional or national debate on this blended wing thing…did I miss it?
I think this will be Zero Jet after the $5 billion is spent. It will come and go without much fanfare if, after $5 billion is spent, this blended wing thing does not prove to be the 50% better fuel economy sale clincher claim that has already been made. 25% better will still get an airline’s attention as another commenter has already offered, But physics and aerodynamics I understand, it’s still all about power to weight, drag coefficients, and engine efficiency. It takes a certain amount of energy to move the weight of 250 passengers, and their baggage, no matter what the configuration is. A blended wing does not offer anywhere near that kind of improvement. $5 billion and six hundred acres is a lot of gambling for 10% let alone 50% fuel economy improvement claims.
But what is another $5 billion when we are already in debt to the tune of $40 trillion? And what is another $275 million of military spending, when we have spent $132 billion in 39 days of war? Just write a check for one year of military spending of $1.5 trillion dollars…attack another country for spending justification…kill a few more civilians in the process…easy peasy! We have done it many times before. Why stop now?