Airbus lodges patent for detachable plane cabins

French-based aviation firm Airbus could be set to create the next-generation of planes after filing a patent featuring detachable shipping containers, according to The Telegraph. It is then fixed into place and the plane operates as normal. In a method not dissimilar from that used for shipping containers, these cabins are then lifted and lowered onto the plane once the passengers have taken their seats-and then detached upon landing, when a new cabin of freshly boarded passengers could be swapped in for the plane’s next flight out.

Airbus said in their patent application: “Transferring a payload in a commercial aeroplane requires that the aeroplane is immobilised on the ground”.

Indeed, the longer this period of immobilisation, the less actual flight time of each aeroplane.

Airbus competitor Boeing predicts that if you can cut down an airplane’s turn-time by 10 minutes, you can improve its utilization level by 8.1 percent-so you can see why it’s a compelling idea.

To reduce a plane’s turn-time, Airbus proposes “a removable cabin module, comprising a floor, an upper aircraft fuselage portion connected to the floor, and a first and a second end wall, wherein the first and second end walls, the floor and the upper aircraft fuselage portion form a cabin for transport of passengers, luggage, freight or combinations thereof”.

Plans submitted with the United States Patent and Trademark Office show passengers would be loaded into the cabin in the terminal building. The concept would also allow planes to fly more frequently, with less time sitting and waiting on the ground.

However, before panicking, the patent also makes it clear that airports would have to be physically restructured to allow for this new mode of air travel possible, so in the end-unless entire airports get rebuilt to accept what’s described in the patent, it seems docking module air travel is unlikely to become a reality in the near-future.