Aircraft
The Fast, the Far-reaching, and the Future
A range of technologies forwarded in 2023
Bombardier blended-wing body demonstrator
Bombardier’s blended-wing body demonstrator is generating significant flight test data. © Guillaume Plisson for Bombardier

While much attention has centered around the new wave of eVTOL aircraft, research continues at a feverish pace across the industry for a range of new (or renewed) concepts from blended wings to supersonic and all-electric in more traditional aircraft forms. Progress was made on all fronts in 2023, with the field of activity growing more crowded.

Many of these projects draw skeptics. However, the question may be not whether they make it to market but whether these concepts will play a role in shaping the future of flying.