Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Bjorn’s Corner: Blended Wing Body Airliners. Part 4
April 3, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We have started a series of articles on the Blended Wing Body (BWB) as a potentially more efficient design for passenger-carrying airliners than the classical Tube And Wing (TAW) configuration. In the… Read More
Bjorn’s Corner: Blended Wing Body Airliners. Part 3.
March 27, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We have started a series of articles about the Blended WingBody (BWB) as a potentially more efficient passenger-carrying airliner design than the classical Tube And Wing (TAW) configuration. In the second article… Read More
Bjorn’s Corner: The Blended Wing Body, BWB, Airliner. Part 1.
March 13, 2026, ©. Leeham News: The flying wing has been researched for almost 100 years. During the Second World War, the Horten Brothers developed as flying wing military aircraft in Germany with mixed success. The Northrop company then… Read More
JetZero CEO Lands A Silicon Valley Mindset at U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Aviation Summit
By Chris Sloan Sept. 17, 2025, © Leeham News: At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Aerospace Summit, Tom O’Leary, CEO and Co-Founder of JetZero, made clear that his company is bringing something different to commercial aviation: a… Read More
What’s the next new aircraft? Part 3
By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm Subscription Required July 24, 2025, © Leeham News: In Part 3 of our five-part series on examining the potential next generation of aircraft in the coming decades, we take a closer look… Read More
What’s the next new aircraft? Part 1
Subscription Required Part 1 of 5 By Scott Hamilton July 17, 2025, © Leeham News: Some urge Boeing to take the plunge “now” to launch a new airplane program. Institutional knowledge is slipping away, these people say. Boeing… Read More
Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 20. Efficient flying
July 7, 2023, ©. Leeham News: We explore different technologies in the series that can make our next-generation airliners more efficient and, thus, less polluting. We have discussed developments of engine and airframe technologies, such as Turbofans versus… Read More
Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 11. Airframe.
May 5, 2023, ©. Leeham News: In our series on the different technologies available when developing next-generation airliners, we have covered the fuselage configuration and engine options. Now we turn to airframe technologies. We will look at different… Read More
Don’t look for commercial BWB airplane any time soon, says Boeing’s future airplanes head
April 3, 2018, © Leeham News: New airplanes for the foreseeable future are unlikely to look radically different than the tube-and-wing configuration that’s been around since the dawn of manned flight. Yes, there are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)… Read More
BWB a big challenge
To some, the Blended Wing Body airplane seems like a great idea. We like it, too. It’s highly fuel efficient–estimated to be up to 30% more so than the Airbus A380. The body acts as lift, providing a… Read More