JetZero’s blended wing body could yield passenger benefits for air travel, panel says
An illustration of Jet Zero’s planned demonstrator. Credit: JetZero
AIAA AVIATION FORUM, Las Vegas — A more efficient aircraft design originally conceived as a way for the U.S. military to conserve fuel may also give future airline passengers more room and a “white glove” experience, according to speakers on a Wednesday panel here that included representatives from Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
The discussion centered on how the Z4 blended-wing-body demonstrator in development by California startup JetZero could change air travel. The body of the aircraft and passenger seating area is slated to be triangular and flattened compared to the layout of today’s tube-and-wing designs, creating more aerodynamic lift surface. The outline of that distinct body shape would blend gradually into the wings, for a total span of 56 meters.
JetZero referenced NASA’s research on the X-48B aircraft for the Z4 design, which the company says is 50% more fuel-efficient than aircraft in operation today, with flight range and seat capacity — up to 250 — comparable to the mid-range passenger airliners currently used for international flights, including the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.
The Z4 is being partially funded by a $235 million contract the U.S. Air Force awarded JetZero in 2023. The full-scale demonstrator is being built by California-based Scaled Composites, and plans call for a first flight in 2027. During the AVIATION panel, Daniel Da Silva, JetZero’s president and chief operating officer, said that he doesn’t anticipate the first commercial variant of the design until at least 2030.
JetZero and Delta showed images of that notional passenger airliner during the panel that feature a triangular island, or bar, in the middle of the cabin seating.
“The aircraft interior, the new shape of this aircraft, gives so much space for the crew to deliver a next-level customer experience, and also for the employee experience,” Sangita Sharma, director of Delta’s Sustainable Skies Lab, told attendees. “Our flight attendants are so excited about the possibility of delivering service like this. Just think about how much more personalized and white glove it can be.”
Delta announced in March that it would provide “expertise” to JetZero for the Z4’s development. United followed up with an announcement in April that it signed a purchase agreement for up to 200 of the commercial variant if the Z4 demonstrator meets its development milestones, including the 2027 first flight.
For commercial passengers, JetZero says on its website that its aircraft would result in “stress-free boarding, faster turn times, dedicated overhead storage, and more personal space in every passenger class.”
“The tube-and-wing efficiency is maxed out,” Da Silva said. “Nothing beats the first-principle physics of having a very well-distributed lift across the span of the airplane, and that helps with structural efficiency, that helps with creating more lift and reducing drag of that airplane.”
On the military side, the fuel logistics challenge is top of mind. Roberto Guerrero, the U.S. Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for operational energy, safety and occupational health, said operations in the Middle East led to a growing emphasis on fuel efficiency and eventually to renewed interest in a blended-wing-body design. Now that the U.S. is focused more on the Pacific, he said, the longer distances between U.S. bases there have prompted even greater attention to such efficiency.
“In Iraq and Afghanistan, we experienced a very high number of casualties to logisticians delivering fuel and water to outposts,” Guerrero said. “And so we developed ways to study these risks better, study technologies in order to minimize that supply chain risk.”
