Airbus Next Gen single aisle airliner could use open fan engines
March 25, 2025
Airbus highlighted its cutting-edge technologies, innovative design and novel engineering capabilities during the third edition of its Airbus Summit in Toulouse on 24 and 25 March, 2025.
Airbus’ Head of Future Programmes Bruno Fichefeux said that: “Every second, an Airbus aircraft takes off – connecting people, cargo and business around the world. We have the most advanced aircraft portfolio in the market and the A321XLR is at the very forefront of today’s single-aisle aircraft technology. Now we are taking the best of what we’ve done and preparing another jump to make our single-aisle aircraft even better and pioneer the future of flight, when the time is right.”
The company provided a glimpse at the roadmap it has drawn up to pioneer the future of commercial aviation, and unveiled a number of new next-generation single-aisle aircraft design concepts. These showcase some of the different configurations being studied, highlighting potential solutions that are being explored in order to achieve a major leap forward in aircraft efficiency. Airbus hopes that these will bring a real contribution to the decarbonisation of air travel in the decades to come, underpinning the future of sustainable aerospace.
Technologies for this future single-aisle aircraft aircraft could include more efficient engines, including disruptive open fan designs; long foldable wings allowing for significant aerodynamic gains; next-generation batteries to enable hybrid architectures where electricity is increasingly used to support propulsive and non-propulsive functions aboard the aircraft and lightweight materials and integrated systems for a connected aircraft.
Airbus says that it is “investigating the potential of a few promising engines technologies,” and that “one primary contender is the open fan.” An open or unducted fan engine looks quite different from a modern turbofan, as the fan blades are larger and not contained within the nacelle. This allows air to move efficiently through the engine, reducing fuel consumption.
Airbus is working with engine-maker CFM on the Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) open fan engine demonstrator, and plans to flight test RISE on its A380 flight test aircraft by the end of the decade. The demonstrator is planned to demonstrate a reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 20% compared to today’s most efficient equivalent engines.
Unducted fan (UDF) engines were previously explored in the early 1980s by General Electric (the GE36, tested on a Boeing 727), Pratt and Whitney (the Model 578-DX tested on a Gulfstream II) and International Aero Engines (the IAE V2500SF). McDonnell Douglas began developing propfan variants of its MD-80, the MD-91X, and the MD-92X, and flew a UDF prototype (N980DC, also known as the UHB (Ultra High Bypass) Demo testbed) with a GE-36 engine to port. This aircraft made 93 flights totalling 165 hours of testing and was even displayed at the Farnborough Air Show in September 1988. Falling oil prices and technical issues led to the abandonment of the various unducted fan projects.
Airbus hopes that the time has come for the open fan engine, marking the next step after the piston, turbojet and turbofan. These engines will consume 20% less fuel than current powerplants, making air travel more decarbonised and cost-effective.
A video shown at the Airbus Summit showed two main open fan powered variations of a notional next-generation single-aisle airliner, one with underwing engines and a conventional empennage, the other with a stretched forward fuselage and a T-tail, and two rear-mounted engines.
Airbus Head of R&T Karim Mokaddem said: “Airbus teams are working relentlessly towards the key decisions that will ultimately finalise the choices of the aircraft’s engine type, wing design and additional innovations once their maturity is demonstrated.”
The end result will be an anticipated 20-30% increase in fuel efficiency compared with the current generation of airliners, as well as the ability to fly with up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This will, it is hoped, support the aviation sector’s roadmap towards achieving net-zero emissions in 2050.
