US start-up JetZero continues to progress towards the first flight of a full-scale blended-wing-body (BWB) demonstrator aircraft by 2027, with the jet having passed the preliminary design review (PDR) milestone earlier this year.
Tom O’Leary, chief executive and co-founder of the Long Beach-based developer, says the PDR was completed in June, with “close out” activities “just a couple of weeks ago”.
A critical design review should follow “next summer”, keeping the Scaled Composites-built demonstrator on track for a 2027 first flight, he said, speaking at an EasyJet sustainability event at the UK’s Cranfield University on 4 September.
Funding has so far come from the US Air Force (USAF), NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration, plus investors including Alaska Airlines, which backed the company’s Series A round that closed last year.
Although the USAF has its eyes on a future aerial refueling tanker, JetZero is also targeting the airline market, promising the BWB aircraft will cut fuel emissions by up to 50% over current wing-and-tube designs.
O’Leary remains confident that the “ambitious” service-entry goal of 2030 is achievable: despite the radical change to the jet’s appearance, he points out that it is not “a purely clean-sheet design” as it will “leverage a lot of the existing parts base”.
“Really, the great innovation is the airframe itself: aerodynamic efficiency we feel is the best place to start to solve the key problems the customer base has.”
Integrating “existing already certified equipment”, such as current narrowbody turbofan engines, onto a new airframe “can accelerate the [development] process”, he says.
JetZero had originally intended to use Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engines for the demonstrator, but has instead opted for twin PW2043 engines – the civil variant of the 43,000lb (192kN)-rated F117 for the Boeing C-17 strategic airlifter.
O’Leary says the company “hopes to have multiple engine suppliers” for its eventual commercial BWB product but whether they will be existing powerplants remains an open question given the lack of current options producing thrust beyond 35,000lb.
To keep development of that aircraft on target for service entry in 2030, work on the PDR will begin in the autumn of next year, he says.
Development of the passenger variant will be shaped by JetZero’s newly established Airline Working Group, an eventual 12-strong body that will meet for the first time later in 2024.
Previously, Alaska Airlines was the only confirmed member of the group, but was on 4 September joined by UK budget carrier EasyJet.
Although EasyJet has not yet backed up its interest in the start-up with an investment, O’Leary is hopeful that may eventually emerge, emphasising that its relationship with the airline is at an early stage.
“We have been talking to them for a very short period of time and this is a first step. We have been working with Alaska for a lot longer and they came on board with us last year.”
In the meantime, the carriers will contribute “operational insights and expertise” to assist in the development of the BWB aircraft.
Such input will ensure the jet has “the right speed, the right passenger capacity, and the ability to operate with the same infrastructure”.
In addition to the fuel-burn benefits promised by the BWB configuration, EasyJet highlights the larger fuselage as offering the potential to accommodate a hydrogen powertrain in future.
JetZero’s initial BWB aircraft is designed to tackle the part of the market currently occupied by the Boeing 767 and 787-8; accommodating around 250 passengers, it would seat slightly more than EasyJet’s largest aircraft, the 235-seat Airbus A321neo.
In EasyJet’s view, the better economics of the BWB design will allow it to sacrifice some passenger capacity to accommodate the larger fuel tanks required for hydrogen propulsion.
Although no longer than existing narrowbodies, the aircraft’s larger wingspan – at around 58m (190ft), it will be significantly wider than the 35.8m of the A320-family jets EasyJet currently flies – will present challenges to its use of existing airport gates.
“This will be something for the working group to study: how to deal with a wingspan that delivers a step-change in performance,” he says.
“You can’t put a widebody into an EasyJet terminal from a length basis, but we can. It might mean moving [parking] lines and jet bridges but it will be the same terminal.”
A reluctance to “paint new lines on the tarmac” cannot be the sole item that prevents the aircraft’s deployment, he argues.
“But we have to be realistic: we can’t endure A380-type infrastructure costs.”
