Airbus reveals the in-flight experience of the future

At the 2010 Farnborough air show, Airbus revealed concept photos of its vision of what a passenger jet might look like in 2050.
Now, as the Paris Air Show approaches - it opens on 20 June - the futurists at Airbus have turned their attention to inflight entertainment and the cabin experience for passengers in such jets. And a pretty wacky look-ahead it is too.

(Image: Airbus)
The "biomimetic" frame of the Airbus Concept Plane, as it is known, is inspired by the super-lightweight bones of birds - though the company isn't quite sure yet what it might make this bone-inspired material from. Airbus cabin designer Tobias Mayer says it could be a 3D-printed - and largely hollow - titanium based material that the firm's parent, EADS, is becoming adept at manufacturing at its Additive Layer Manufacturing lab in Filton, UK.
With a criss-cross structure it will supposedly allow some kind of bird-strike-resistant dimmable glass to be used as the exterior skin - giving passengers the astonishing ability to see everything outside.

(Image: Airbus)
Airbus envisages its plane having many different zones - because by 2050 budget air travel will have been abolished (along with economy seats) - and there'll be no more squeezing-as- many-seats-in-as-possible. Of course.
"Passengers in 2050 could join an interactive conference, enjoy a game of virtual golf, or read the kids back home a bedtime story whilst watching the planet spread out beneath their feet," the firm trills in its pre-Paris statement.

(Image: Airbus)
It doesn't end there. Morphing seats will sense the tension in your body using an intelligent neural network, allowing the seat to morph and conform to your body shape - and no matter how obese the population gets by 2050, these seats will be able to cope, Airbus promises. You'll get "vitamin and antioxidant-enriched air, mood lighting, aromatherapy and acupressure treatments". Has no-one told them antioxidant supplements have been debunked?
(Image: Airbus)