Boeing's New Plane Has Foldable Wings to Save Fuel

This year's Dubai Air Show is currently underway in the United Arab Emirates, and it's something of a runway show for the aircraft industry: Manufacturers show off their latest designs while buyers watch closely, hoping to predict the next big thing in airplane innovation.

This weekend, Boeing stole the show with its new commercial aircraft model—called the 777x for the time being—which the company claims will chug down 12 percent less fuel than today’s planes. It's the latest in a long string of innovations working to make airplanes more efficient in order to lower carbon emissions and cut costs for the transitioning industry.

The most futuristic of the 777x’s energy-saving features is it’s foldable wings, which span 233 feet in flight and fold up once the plane lands, shortening the wingspan by about 20 feet. The design makes it possible to better navigate the massive vehicles around an airport, while still maximizing efficiency when flying. The company hails it as “the future of flight unfolding.”

On top of the fancy folding wings, the new model incorporates the energy savings of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which promised to be the next generation of aircraft when it was introduced three years ago but ran into a mess of trouble in development. Specifically, the 777x will trade in the old aluminum frame for the Dreamliner's much lighter composite body. The model will be able to carry 400 passengers, while still burning 20 percent less fuel, the company says. It received 259 orders after being presented in Dubai, and is set to hit the market by 2020.

Boeing’s new jet is just the latest in the green aircraft arms race. Last week, NASA and Boeing conducted the first full flight test of a new high-tech wing that can redirect airflow to make the plane more aerodynamic, reduce drag, and in turn save energy. The technology, called Active Flow Control, places small computer-controlled devices on the wings that detect air patterns and can manipulate them for maximum efficiency. It comes out of NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation project—part of the oft-overshadowed "Aeronautics" division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NASA's also experimenting with 3D-printed and ceramic engine parts that are much lighter than current manufacturing techniques, and has introduced its own "hybrid" wing design meant to lower the weight of the plane by 25 percent while maintaining its strength. The Blended Wing Body, as the name suggests, blends the body of the plane with the wings—the effect looks kind of like webbed feet. Developers say the innovative wing design could hit the market within 10 years.

In its report on the new airplane this morning, MIT Technology Review pointed out that any change to the manufacturing process of commercial aircraft is bound to be slow-going—you don't take risks when you're flying hundreds of people thousands of feet in the air. But with technological developments in engine building, frame materials, and aerodynamic design, experts predict the future airplane will use as much as 50 percent less fuel, and could take off from airports within a decade.