Delta Air Lines bets on ‘blended-wing’ flight to reduce emissions

is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Delta Air Lines is backing a startup that wants to design more fuel-efficient, blended-wing-body aircraft in the hopes of reducing its carbon footprint and making air travel more sustainable. The airline said today that it will help support the development of startup JetZero’s blended-wing-body (BWB) demonstrator aircraft that aims to cut fuel consumption, emissions, and noise. Delta isn’t providing any capital investment in the company but, rather, operational support to help make its dream of a blended-wing aircraft a reality. JetZero will join Delta’s Sustainable Skies Lab incubator, where it will receive “operational expertise” from the airline’s engineers in the design and construction of a BWB demonstrator aircraft, with the aim to test it in 2027. In 2020, Delta pledged to spend $1 billion on sustainabili ... Read full article.