Engineers from Airbus have filed a patent application for UFO-like “flying doughnut” aircraft.
It would mean passengers entering the aircraft through steps leading up to an “access hatch” around the hole in the centre and receive their in-flight meals from trolleys being pushed through curved aisles.
The doughnut-shaped craft aims to increase the legroom for travellers and address the problem of cabin pressure.
The 15-page application, which was filed in the US last month, says: “The present invention proposes an aircraft wherein the structure of delimiting passenger cabin extends over 360 degrees around a space defined outside structure.
“The invention allows structure to be more resistant to loads induced by the cabin pressurisation, while allowing to reduce or even to avoid the need for a sealed bottom, and while allowing to increase the space available for passengers.”
It adds: “Indeed the presence of the space defined outside the structure and surrounded by it inside the aircraft, enables better distribution of pressurisation loads applied to the structure and thus makes this structure more capable of resisting these pressurisation loads.”
The patent application is among a series of unconventional and futuristic plans proposed by Airbus, The Times reported.
It has sought legal protection for an economy-class seat for standing passengers shaped like a bicycle saddle, a virtual reality helmet for delivering in-flight films and music as well as a windowless cockpit.
Airbus says that the design was worthwhile enough to protect with a patent and is among 6,000 ideas that its engineers formulate each year.
But the manufacturer said: “This is not something that’s currently under active development.”