With all advances in technology and choice of materials, I believe we are now at the treshold of entering an exciting future. This is also true for the airline-industry, an industry that have generally always been good at updating themselves in line with trends and new safety requirements. Some things takes a little longer time, but eventually, they do happen in one way or another.
After MH370 went missing many years ago, and that still haven’t been found yet, we are slowly starting to see new regulations being implemented. Improved real-time tracking of aircrafts is coming to an aircraft near you, as long as it’s built after a certain date. Sadly, I feel that this is going too slow, as well as the fact that these new regulations will not affect any of the current aircrafts flying around the world.
Take a look at the A380 for example: less than a decade after it’s launch, it was outdated and a giant, fuel-guzzling whale only a very few airlines wanted to buy. At launch, the A380 was expected to be THE aircraft of choice for most airlines operating long-haul flights.
In the aviation industry, things move fast - almost as fast as an aircraft. We better buckle up our safety belts immediately and pay close attention to not only the safety video, but also the competition.
One thing that is probably coming too, is window-less aircrafts. In some way, it’s already here: with the “virtual windows” in Emirates first class suiteson a Boeing 777. I can easily imagine this technology also coming very soon to “inside cabins” on cruise-ships and in private cabins on trains for example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvYsHOzWUY8
New technologies and new ways of stacking people in economy class will also certainly come sooner than later, though I fear that none of these new tighter cabins will be so-called “improvements” for the passengers. Smaller seats, less comfort and away with inflight entertainment systems. In-flight entertainment-systems are actually already starting to disappear from new aircraft-deliveries, in place of a docking station of your own device.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5gCUMdtj3c
Radically new aircraft designs will also come some time in the future, but I don’t think that will happen too fast. We have been stuck in the same path of creating an aircraft for a very long time, and it might be a big task moving away from this path. If a new design is to be quickly entered into production, there must be strong incentives for those that orders these aircrafts: such as dramatically cheaper building processes, significantly lower fuel-consumption and finally, perhaps a new innovative cabin with less noise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06KOiIXPtkY
We also have an Aviation Section on CaptainsVoyage Forum, for your interest.
