Another airline is placing bets on the radical “flying wing” plane that industry professionals foresee as the future of commercial aviation.
California startup Natilus announced Wednesday that Indian carrier SpiceJet will order up to 100 of its new airliner called Horizon. The triangle-shaped “blended-wing body” (BWB) aircraft ditches the traditional tube-and-wing design for one giant, sweeping wing with the cabin built inside.
It’s a more efficient aircraft that allows for more space and fewer emissions. Natilus hopes to launch Horizon in the early 2030s.
Company CEO Aleksey Matyushev said in a press release that India’s growing aviation sector will be short about 2,200 aircraft by 2040 and believes his next-generation BWB could help fill that demand.
India is the world’s fifth-largest aviation market with about 211 million passengers in 2024 — an increase of about 11% year-over-year, according to the global airline trade association IATA.
SpiceJet said it will help Natilus navigate India’s regulatory process, with the order contingent on the Horizon ultimately being certified in the country. Natilus also plans to source manufactured parts from India and has established a subsidiary called Natilus India, headquartered in Mumbai, to support its operations.
This is the first publicly announced international airline order for Horizon, but Natilus told Business Insider that its commercial order book — which also includes its BWB cargo version, Kona — stands at more than 570 orders valued at $25 billion following SpiceJet’s order.
Kona has purchase agreements with carriers like US operator Ameriflight, a partner of FedEx, DHL, and UPS, as well as Canadian airline Norolinor. However, it’s unclear if Horizon has other buyers besides SpiceJet.
Horizon could host unique cabin configurations
Horizon would bring a new type of aircraft to India’s skies that promises better operating economics than those offered by the reigning Boeing-Airbus duopoly.
Matyushev previously told Business Insider that Horizon will offer improved efficiency because its wing design generates lift across a much larger surface area, cutting fuel burn by roughly 30% and operating costs by about 50% compared with similarly sized aircraft such as the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320.
The plane, which could carry up to 240 people in a high-capacity configuration, would also fit into existing airport infrastructure and offer about 40% more cabin space thanks to its wider footprint.
Matyushev said this could translate into unique spaces that today’s jets can’t fit, like a lounge or a kids’ playroom.
Renderings of Horizon published in July show a futuristic business class, up to three aisles between rows of a dozen economy seats, and dedicated privacy pods.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury recently said that it sees BWB planes as the future of aviation. But he said the jet may be windowless due to the curved structure. This means passengers could face minimal natural light, disorientation, and claustrophobia.
The wider cabin also poses additional safety challenges during emergency evacuations since those in the very center would be further from the exit doors than on today’s aircraft, and the passengers and crew wouldn’t be able to see the situation outside.
Matyushev confirmed to Business Insider that Horizon would have windows, but for those in the middle of the plane, it is also designing skylights and other lighting strategies to mimic the outside.
He has previously said Horizon would meet and exceed safety standards.
Companies have long experimented with passenger BWBs
The BWB concept is not new. It has long been used by the US military — among the most famous being the Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber — and passenger variants have been studied by innovators like Airbus, NASA, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing for decades.
Sub-scale demonstrators have flown, but no full-sized BWB has been certified for commercial use.
With a team of employees who have worked for companies like Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, Natilus is betting Horizon can break into the fiercely competitive commercial aircraft market. But it’s not the only player chasing that goal.
Airbus has been experimenting with commercial BWB aircraft since 2017 as part of its ZEROe program, which aims to build zero-emission airliners that run on hydrogen instead of traditional jet fuel. That project flew a demonstrator in 2019 but has since been delayed at least a decade from its initial 2035 timeline.
Another California startup, JetZero, is developing a 250-person BWB, called the “Z4,” that is expected to launch in the early 2030s and offer up to 50% lower fuel burn. It could replace jets like the Boeing 767 or the Airbus A330.
United Airlines’ venture capital arm, United Airlines Ventures, plans to order up to 200 Z4s. Managing director Andrew Chang previously described JetZero to Business Insider as a “living room in the sky.”
“Everything around the customer travel experience — how they sit in the plane, board, and deplane, and how [crewmembers] serve them — can be reinvented around the new space within this new aircraft design,” he said.
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