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Once the purview of military design, blended-wing-body aircraft may be the industry's unconventional solution to carbon neutrality.

- Basem Wasef

THE FIRST CENTURY of aviation design didn’t give trendspotters much to get excited about, with the vast majority of production aircraft remaining little more than tubes with wings attached. Later, boomerang-shaped outliers known as ‘flying wings’, such the Northrop YB-49 and Northrop Grumman’s B-2 Spirit, captured the aeronautical industry’s imagination with their futuristically stealthy looks, while military jets with blendedwing-body (BWB) configurations—notably the B-1 Lancer and Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird—likewise built cult followings for breaking design barriers as well as sonic ones.

A resurgence of BWB concepts, now addressing prior control and stability issues, promises more efficient operation for defence, cargo and even commercial-passenger applications, with some specifically designed as business jets. The streamlined BWB shape reduces drag, thereby increasing fuel efficiency, and lowers carbon output—the last being the main impetus for aircraft manufacturers trying to meet the industry’s widespread pledge to be carbon neutral by 2050.

EcoJet, Bombardier’s BWB concept, passed its first scaled-demonstrator flight tests in 2017 and is now starting the second generation with a larger prototype. “Our original idea was to create a sustainable aircraft without compromising what our customers expect in a business jet,” says Stephen McCullough, Bombardier’s senior vice president of engineering and product development. That includes hitting benchmarks for speed, altitude and interior volume that offer at least the same experience as its existing fleet. “The blended-wing-body ticks the majority of those boxes,” he says, while potentially reducing emissions by 20 per cent. One challenge with the form is maintaining the plane’s airport-friendly footprint, though McCullough focuses on the positive, noting that the aircraft’s taller, wider cabin “opens up a lot of exciting opportunities” for Bombardier’s interior designers.