With the rapid rate of technological advancements, it’s no surprise that we may be seeing some big changes in air travel in the next few years. The airline and airplane industry are working hard to streamline the process for passengers, and save themselves money at the same time. They are making certain progressions possible that were once upon a time deemed completely unrealistic.
So, what game-changing innovations are we looking at here? What can we expect when it comes to new tech in air travel? Here are 6 things we can look forward to:
Electric Propulsion
One of the changes we can expect to see is a change in the way aircrafts are powered. Electric aircrafts aren’t that far away! This is exciting news for current pilots and individuals just beginning to learn the ins and outs of flying.
Since beginner pilot students will be spending quite some time in the air, it’s a good idea to familiarize themselves with these advancements as well as must-have gear like aviation headsets. We found a review on the best pilot headsets by Ironhorsetrading.net that we are sure aviation students could benefit from.
Electric propulsion is the future – many pilots are already looking into how this could affect them.
Hypersonic Flights
Hypersonic traveling means getting to your destinations very quickly. High speed flying is being researched by many manufacturers. The downfall would be that hypersonic flights are not good for the environment. So, it’s a matter of finding a balance between eco-friendly options and fast flights or making a decision on what’s more important.
Introducing Biofuels
Currently, jet engines are running on kerosene. Our prediction is that one day kerosene will be replaced by biofuels. This will be extremely beneficial when it comes down to cutting down on greenhouse emissions.
There are some airlines such as United, Singapore, or KLM who have flown commercial planes using biofuels. Biofuels will include anything from recycled vegetable oil to plant based ethanol.
Automatic Flying
This advancement can seem a bit scary especially since pilots have been an integral part of flying aircrafts since day one. As technology continues to progress, there is talk that one day they will be replaced. If this happens to be the case, airlines may be looking at major cost savings.
We most likely won’t see planes flown automatically anytime soon because if we know one thing for certain, it’s that technology can fail or go wrong every once in a while. If this happens, we will need a pilot to take over.
Biometrics
The check-in process at airports has changed within the past decade. Nowadays it’s certainly easier than it was only half a decade ago. Travelers can use applications to pull up their boarding pass as opposed to paper printouts. What if we told you the next step is biometrics?
This includes eliminating paper and electronic boarding passes and instead using facial recognition or similar technology. How it would work is passengers will stand in front of a camera and the photograph taken will be matched to the information in the US Customs database. Facial recognition passport scanning is already used in hundreds of airports around the world.
Another option would be fingerprint recognition. Some airlines are working on implementing this option for checking in baggage. An automated system would save time, and would eventually replace the need for counter clerks.
Entertainment & Connectivity
Passengers enjoy internet connectivity and entertainment especially for long flights. We can all expect to see some changes in that arena. Both connection and flight entertainment has been improved over the past few years. We can expect something along the lines of satellite based internet connectivity. There are some airlines like Delta or United that have already made the switch to wireless streaming.
