The airline industry is just one industry in the transportation sector, which is impacted by high fuel costs. How will the airline industry over the next two decades survive if fuel prices remained high? Will be industry be destroyed or will new technologies give a boost to improve fuel efficiencies to an adequate level for the airline industry to remain profitable and continue serving mankind? You maybe pleasantly surprised to find that the future actually looks very good for the industry. The Boeing 7E7 with composite fuselage and wings will make aircraft more efficient, but we still need more work on UV coatings and studying the affects of composite chemicals given off in a fire, as well as longevity and life of this material and its decaying processes and stress issues too. Lighter materials is a key to fuel efficiency and performance for modern day airliners and the new material sciences are indeed alive and well in the United States of America. New Blended Wing Bodies BWB being developed and researched by NASA make sense, as well and will improve efficiency in drag reduction by up to 45%. Also the introduction of Carbon Nano-Tube will greatly increase fuel savings. Also eliminating of wing tip vortices or reuse of these airflows makes sense. Luckily DARPA and other research bodies are investing in morphing technologies as well too. All these things are indeed ushering in a new age of fuel-efficient transportation in the Airline Sector. So, consider all this in 2006. |
