Alaska Airlines invests in innovative commercial blended-wing body aircraft developer JetZero

Expanding US carrier Alaska Airlines has announced an investment in California-based JetZero, which is developing a blended-wing body (BWB) airliner promising up to 50% lower fuel burn than current 200-plus passenger aircraft and targeting 2030 entry into service. The airline did not specify the value of the investment or its potential scale or timing but confirmed that the deal included options for future orders of the blended wing jets. Alaska’s stake in JetZero was facilitated through Alaska Star Ventures, a dedicated investment platform established in 2021 by the airline to identify and support technologies to help it achieve its steep target of net zero carbon emissions by 2040. In 2021, Alaska invested in hydrogen-electric pioneer ZeroAvia and entered a development collaboration on a hydrogen powertrain for a 76-seat zero-emission aircraft with the startup.

“We are always looking for ways to innovate and shape the future of air travel,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, Alaska’s SVP of public affairs and sustainability, announcing the JetZero investment.

The family of planes proposed by JetZero features an innovative arrowhead design in which the fuselage and swept-back wings are integrated, lightweight composite materials are widely used and two high bypass jet engines are mounted atop the rear of the fuselage. The company says the design, which also excludes a tail, “dramatically” improves aerodynamic efficiency compared to conventional tube-and-wing jet designs and will a be able to use 100% sustainable aviation fuel.

“A shorter, wider fuselage is blended together, mimicking the wing to provide lift,” explained JetZero. “With less drag and weight, the size of the engines is reduced, which further reduces drag and weight. This breakthrough fills the mid-market gap with an aircraft that achieves half the fuel burn and emissions of the ageing fleet it will replace.”

JetZero was founded in 2021 by an engineering team who pioneered the BWB concept, with co-founder and CTO Mark Page first investigating future BWB properties under a NASA initiative in the 1990s while at McDonnell Douglas. Although blended wing technology has been studied for three decades by NASA and other partners, it is JetZero which is progressing the concept to commercialisation.

Last year, it secured a $235 million award from the Innovation Unit of the US Department of Defense to develop and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft by the first quarter of 2027 and this month it received a grant of $8 million through the FAA’s FAST programme. It is partnering with Northrop Grumman and Scaled Composites to build and test the demonstrator, and Pratt & Whitney GatorWorks to design and integrate its propulsion system. Although it will initially be designed to use 100% SAF, JetZero said its design could also accommodate later conversion to hydrogen propulsion.

“The biggest challenge for airlines is lowering fuel burn and emissions,” said JetZero co-founder and CEO Tom O’Leary. “Of all the great new technologies in work, the BWB design delivers the biggest market impact by far. Airlines will see immediate benefit in cost savings, dramatically lower emissions, and improved customer service compared to airplanes flying today. We’re thrilled to welcome Alaska to our team of innovators, and our belief is that this aircraft will reshape aviation.”

The airline’s Diana Birkett Rakow said: “We are proud to invest in JetZero’s development of this innovative next-generation aircraft, with a significant step-change in fuel efficiency. We and JetZero share a vision for more sustainable aviation, and we are excited to partner with them in creating that future.”   

As well as committing to support JetZero, Alaska Airlines is also backing hydrogen-electric propulsion company ZeroAvia, which is developing a family of zero emission propulsion systems to replace fossil-fuel engines in existing turbine and turboprop aircraft.

In May last year, Alaska Airlines delivered one of its decommissioned Bombardier Q400 turboprop airliners – also known as Dash 8-400s – to the hydrogen propulsion company for use as an airborne test platform. The aircraft was previously operated by Alaska’s regional division, Horizon Air.

ZeroAvia is progressing its entry level ZA 600 powertrain towards certification for use in 10-20 seat aircraft by next year, and is well-advanced on its next model, the ZA 2000, designed to retrofit zero emission propulsion systems into 40-80 seat turboprop airliners like the Q400 or Europe’s ATR42 and 72 family of aircraft. For this programme it is targeting entry into service by 2027. Jet derivatives are also planned.

In addition to its JetZero and ZeroAvia partnerships, Alaska Airlines could also be linked to a third new aircraft programme if its proposal to acquire Hawaiian Airlines wins regulatory approval. Hawaiian has invested an undisclosed amount in US-based Regent Seagliders and is part of an advisory group assisting with the design of a 100-seat version of the battery-electric aircraft, which will use waterways and wharves instead of land based runways and airports, and will operate high speed, low altitude flights over water.

Image: Render of the JetZero blended-wing body concept aircraft

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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