easyJet's "Future Travel Report" predicts major innovations in travelling
The report predicts new innovative technology for travellers including adaptable, biomimetic seats, with entertainment beamed directly into their eyes
3D printed buffet food, heartbeat passports and time travelling holiday experiences; a new report released today reveals the predictions for how we will travel and enjoy our holidays in 50 years' time.
The ground-breaking report, commissioned by airline easyJet, forecasts innovations in airport journeys, air travel, accommodation and holiday experiences.
The easyJet “2070: The Future Travel Report” was authored by a group of leading academics and futurists, including Professor Birgitte Andersen of Birkbeck, University of London and CEO of Big Innovation Centre; Dr. Melissa Sterry, design scientist and complex systems theorist; and renowned futurists Shivvy Jervis and Dr. Patrick Dixon, as well as Director of Transport Systems at Cranfield University, Professor Graham Braithwaite and Nikhil Sachdeva, Principal for aerospace and defence and sustainable aviation at consultancy Roland Berger.
In a March 24 press release, easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren said, “Innovation is in our DNA and we’re always challenging ourselves to think big and look at how we can make travel even easier for people all across Europe, both today and for generations to come. From biometric heartbeat passports to time-travelling holiday experiences, travel in 2070 is likely to be very different and exciting indeed.”
Highlights from the easyJet 2070: The Future Travel Report include:
The airport journey and air travel experience will be revolutionized by technological advances:
- Heartbeat and biometric passports will replace the traditional passport, for passengers to breeze through their airport. Much like fingerprints and the retina, every person’s cardiac signature is unique. Passengers’ heartbeat signatures and biometric details will be logged on a global system in the same way fingerprint scanning technology works today.
- Ergonomic and biomimetic sensory plane seats will become the norm, with smart materials adapting to passengers’ body shape, height, weight, and temperature, providing the ultimate tailored comfort flying experience
- Inflight entertainment will be beamed directly in front of passenger’s eyes, via optoelectronic devices, replacing the need for onboard screens or downloading movies before you fly
- e-VTOL air taxis will do away with the airport car park shuttle — the journey to the airport will be quicker and more convenient than ever before with 85 percent of passengers arriving by e-VTOLs from their homes to the terminal.
As technology advances, we will see significant advances in the accommodation experience abroad:
- 3D-printed hotel buffet food will allow holidaymakers to 3D print whatever they want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, while reducing food waste
- Subterranean hotels built into the fabric of the earth that are super energy efficient and at one with the environment
- All hotel rooms will be smart rooms with beds already pre-made to exactly desired firmness, ambient temperatures and favourite music playing based upon preferences you select in advance of booking the holiday
- A holographic personal holiday concierge will accompany holidaymakers to provide up-to-date destination information and assistance throughout their stay
- 3D printed, recyclable holiday clothes on arrival at the hotel will remove the need for suitcases and fast holiday fashion as travellers can print the clothes required in their hotel rooms, tailored to their perfect fit and style, and recycle the materials for the next guest to enjoy
- Human-powered hotels that harvest energy from its guests’ footsteps to generate power
Innovations in experiences and activities in destination will be on offer to travellers:
- “Time-travelling” holiday experiences — tomorrow’s travellers will be able to holiday in past by wearing haptic suits at historical sites that enable them to immerse themselves in live historical surroundings marvelling at wonders of the ancient world like the Colossus of Rhodes during a stroll in Rhodes Town, or cheering among the crowds of the original Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.
- Try before you buy – bionic and Meta holiday previews ahead of going on holiday that allows you to experience locations before booking your holiday
- Underwater “sea-fairs” – aquatic adventures onboard submarines for tourists deep beneath the sea discovering marine life in underwater marine parks
- Local language in-ear devices will be available to take on holiday to translate the local language in real time and enable us to speak the local lingo
- E-foiling, cable skiing and flyboarding will become the norm on offer for rent on the beachfront, truly taking water sports to another level.
Four of the expert predictions have been brought to life in incredibly detailed renders, showcasing how travel could look in 2070.
Brits were also asked to choose which of the experts’ predictions they would most like to see become a reality, with nine in ten British adults saying they were excited or intrigued by what technological advances would make travelling look like in 50 years’ time.
Three-quarters of Brits say that these technological advances would make them more likely to go on holiday in the future.
The survey of 2,000 British adults revealed that biometric heartbeat passports and time-travelling holiday experiences are the advancements in travel that the nation would most like to see happen by 2070.
Many Brits had high opinions on what travel predictions they would most like to see become a reality. More than 40 percent want to see “Time-travelling” holiday experiences via haptic suits that allow you to visit historical sites but see how life would have played out many years ago (i.e. seeing Colossus of Rhodes in 280BC). About 40 percent also hope to see seamless airport security — using biometric heartbeat passports. A quarter of respondents said they would like to see smart hotels with personalized holiday rooms — that adapt and configure to travellers' needs and wants on arrival.
TV presenter Dallas Campbell, who has brought the predictions to life in a new video, said, “Some of the predictions in easyJet’s new report are absolutely astonishing — a personal favourite is the idea of being able to travel back in time through haptic suits, I’d love to be able to experience the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the very first Olympic Games. With everything from the airport, aircraft and destinations set to evolve, travellers are in for some amazing developments as the travel industry continues the evolve and thrive.”
Heading up the report, Professor Birgitte Andersen of Birkbeck College, said, “This next 50 years will bring the largest technological advances we have ever seen in travel and tourism. Aspects of how we holiday will be transformed beyond recognition; in the future holidaymakers will be queuing at the hotel buffet to have their breakfast omelettes and fry-ups 3D printed by machines, our heartbeat will become our passport, and in-ear devices will translate the local language in real time and enable us to speak the local lingo. Looking forward, by the year 2070 the destinations we fly to, the type of accommodation we stay in, and the experiences we have, will have changed immeasurably.”
