alt Hacker NewsIt looks like you can get ~10-20% efficiency gain from these kinds of wings. https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/11/18/175391/folding-w...
That's a meaningful improvement but not that big. Perhaps the limits to this kind of technology are ~50% fuel gain? https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/01/24/180345/hybrid-wi...
We've got AI, but I'm still waiting on exponential technological gains. So far I've mostly gotten exponential enshittification of my google experience. Is AI going to unlock the detonation engine and bring down the cost of my plane ticket? https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/11/23/181486/exploding...
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10-20% efficiency is enormous considering fuel is by far the dominant lifetime cost of operating an aircraft.
New fuels (SAF) and the technology to use them have been developed for less.
This is all to say nothing of the continuous work done over decades now to make aircraft more efficient; as these effects compound, intuition says that returns would start diminishing, so 10-20% is even more impressive.
20% would be an absolutely massive accomplishment. Think about how many decades of incremental improvement have gotten us to the efficiencies we have today.
This is a massive improvement for airliners where margins are a few %. Tube and wing configuration is already highly optimized. This is a physical problem with a hard limit. Can you make a sphere "exponentially" rounder?
The first paragraph of your comment is very informative. The rest, not so much. I highly suggest editing the rest out.
20% efficiency means you can open single isle flights on 25% longer distances, which open a lot of routes that are not profitable with regular long haul planes.
I've flown on the A321LR a few times, and it's always crazy to think about that tiny plane cruising over the Atlantic without stops.