What will aviation look like in 2050?
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This project has received funding by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme HORIZON-CL5-2021-D6-01-13 under Grant Agreement no 101075332
The whole transport service is expected to be user-centric and highly personalised. Within cities, a highly connected environment (people, service, vehicles) will be fundamental to enable the shift towards an integrated multimodal transport system and smoothly run UATM operations.
Digitalisation, with 10-GB fibre broadband, cloud services, IoT, AI and robotics, is a trend expected to have a significant impact on people's lives and, thus, on the aviation industry. By 2050, the whole aviation infrastructure is expected to be fully digitised, with AI strongly supporting operations.
People’s lifestyles and habits may significantly change by 2050: more remote working with flexible hours and less business trips are expected. People will probably use public transportation to move from one place to another rather than using owned vehicles. Furthermore, more personal planes and sky taxis will be operating.
New transportation business models are expected to be in place by 2050. The whole transport system will tend to be fully integrated and multimodal. Furthermore, multimodal hubs are envisaged for both commercial and UATM operations.
In 2050, airspace is expected to be much more crowded compared to today due to an increase in leisure trips and, primarily, to an intense usage of UAM services. High traffic together with the co-presence of many different types of vehicles and air space users will lead to a significant increase in airspace complexity: a new operational paradigm needs to be developed.
UATM's high traffic above the major cities in the world is expected by 2050, to provide people with a variety of delivery and mobility services. These operations are envisaged to be highly automated, without on-board pilot, with their flow managed by ground control centers. To enable this system, new infrastructures (such as flight stations, logistical hubs and vertiports) will be necessary.
Due to climate change, more severe and frequent weather events are expected, creating more disruptions to be safely and effectively managed.
The whole aviation industry is expected to face a significant challenge to meet a constantly growing operational demand while, at the same time, ensuring safety and security, as well as shifting to neutral and zero-emission operations. New robust safety and security measures will be in place. New engine technologies for aircraft will be gradually deployed while moving towards 2050, aiming to reach zero Net CO2 emissions by then. Energy autonomous systems and infrastructures are expected to be in place. UATM is expected to be fossil-free.
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