Airbus Maveric looks like it’s right out of Star Wars
SINGAPORE/NEWDELHI: Airbus SE unveiled a model of a sleek, Falcon-like jet with rearmounted twin engines that would look at home in the Star Wars movies.
The two-meter demonstrator model, displayed at the Singapore Airshow on Tuesday, features a so-called blended-wing body that’s designed to reduce fuel consumption.
Airbus test-flew the model, which is dubbed Maveric, in June last year in France and will continue flights into the second quarter of 2020, the Toulouse-based planemaker said. “We need these demonstrators to evaluate the potential as viable and safe feature projects,” said Jean-brice Dumont, executive vice-president of engineering at Airbus. “We need these breakthroughs, these technologies to meet our environmental challenge.”
Maveric has the potential to cut fuel consumption by as much as 20% compared with current single-aisle aircraft, and opens possibilities for different propulsion systems and cabin designs, according to Airbus.
Meanwhile, Boeing Co. said it will take “several quarters” to return the global 737 MAX fleet to the skies following a grounding that has left about 700 planes on the tarmac. “We are not going to over-stress the system,“Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice-president for marketing, said in an interview on Tuesday at the Airshow.
The manufacturer will first ensure the 400 planes with customers and the 300 more stored in factories are flying again before ramping up production, Tinseth said.