Airbus has been working hard to create a safer, smarter and more eco-friendly future for aircraft.  Through its Smarter Skies initiative, the company has continued to focus on innovation and technology that will help make its vision for sustainable aviation a reality by the year 2050.

Most recently, the company filed a patent for a new type of airplane with a design that makes it more economic and efficient.  The “doughnut shaped “ aircraft cabin is designed to fit more passengers, seating them in a circle rather than straight rows, and eliminates the need for “heavy sealed bottoms” for pressurization at the front and back of traditional aircrafts.

It’s an unusual design for a plane, but it may not be too far-fetched. The filing states that “The purpose of the invention is particularly to provide a simple, economic and efficient solution to these problems to at least partially overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.” Those disadvantages happen to be the limited passenger carrying capability and cabin pressure of current planes.

Among some of the company’s other inventions are: a windowless plane equipped with a virtual cockpit display, an isolation helmet with advanced noise cancelling capability and virtual reality technology, and bicycle-like plane seats.

We may not see any of these innovative designs in the sky anytime soon, but it doesn’t seem like that will stop Airbus from pushing the envelope even further.    An outline of the company’s future initiatives includes: eco-climb for smoother takeoff, express skyways for easier air traffic, free glide approaches for better landings, and low emissions ground operations.