New innovations that will shape your journeys in the coming years

From in-flight streaming to virtual concierges, Jenny Southan identifies the innovations that will be shaping your journey in the year ahead

1. A350 spreads its wings

A direct competitor to Boeing’s B787 Dreamliner, the A350 XWB (extra wide body) is a new family of aircraft from Airbus that comes in three versions, the A350-800, -900 and -1000. Quieter and more fuel-efficient, there are currently 777 of them on order. Airbus delivered 15 last year and aims to double that in 2016. Launch customer Qatar Airways now flies the aircraft to Singapore, Frankfurt, Munich, Philadelphia, Adelaide, Boston and New York.

Vietnam Airlines operates the A350 from Hanoi to Paris and Seoul, while Finnair plies it from Helsinki to Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Hong Kong, with Singapore scheduled for later this year. Singapore Airlines has 67 on order itself; seven are of the ultra long-haul variety (see trend 3), and the airline launched A350 services to Amsterdam in May this year.

2. Rise of Chinese airlines

China’s aviation market is booming. In terms of passengers flown, China Southern is the third-most popular airline globally, moving just over 100 million people in 2014 (only Delta and Southwest trumped it). China Eastern carried 66 million in 2014, while Air China expected to have topped 88.5 million in 2015. Only 5 per cent of Chinese people have passports, but 107 million outbound journeys were made in 2014, and by 2020 that figure is expected to reach 200 million. The volume comes not just from international flights but the huge domestic market, which is served by 20 or so dedicated carriers. In 2014 there were four new arrivals – Air China Inner Mongolia, Qingdao Airlines, Ruili Airlines, Urumqi Air; and in 2015 another four – 9 Air, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines, Jiangxi Air and Colorful Guizhou Airlines. This year we can expect Air Guilin and Yunnan Hongtu Airlines to begin operations.

Aircraft manufacturers anticipate the delivery of more than 300 new planes a year to Chinese airlines over the next 20 years. And, by 2020, China expects to have 60 new airports (it has about 200 at the moment).

3. Ultra long-haul flights

Airlines will be vying to fly the world’s longest and farthest flights over the next couple of years. On March 2, Emirates started a non-stop 17-hour, 15-minute service from Dubai to Auckland, a distance of 14,326 kilometres, becoming the world's longest passenger flight. The airline aims to top this with the launch of a non-stop 17-hour, 35-minute flight between Dubai and Panama City later this year. Next year, Qantas hopes to go one further by flying non-stop between Perth and London (14,469km) using the new B787-9s it has on order. In 2018, Airbus will introduce an ultra long-range version of the A350-900, capable of flying more than 16,000km. Launch customer Singapore Airlines plans to use the aircraft to resurrect its New York route and reclaim the crown for longest flight. Boeing’s B777X, which will come in two versions – the B777-8 (with a range of up to 16,112km) and B777-9 (up to 14,075km) – will be introduced by Emirates in 2020. The Gulf carrier could use the B777-8 from Dubai to Mexico City, Santiago or Peru.

4. Streaming IFE

As many travellers have their own personal screens in the form of tablets and laptops, airlines will one day be able to do away with heavy, expensive in-flight entertainment systems built into seat-backs. Enabling the transition, Virgin Australia set the trend by introducing streaming technology in 2012. Since then, early adopters have included Israel’s El Al, which allows passengers to stream more than 50 movies to their devices via its Dream Stream app on select B737s and B767s.

Low-cost Singaporean airline Scoot relaunched its streaming service for the new B787 in February last year, with access for US$11 (free in business class). In September, Virgin America equipped ten A320s with high-speed wifi for streaming content from Netflix (US$4.99 for short haul, or US$17.99 for long-haul flights).