Abstract
The emergence of hydrogen aviation technology and concepts such as regional air mobility present an opportunity to transform the air travel experience. This pictorial explores this possible future through an air travel scenario set in the context of Queensland, Australia in 2040-2050. The scenario is presented over three parts: (i) analysis of the cost and time benefit that utilising a metropolitan airport would have for passengers in the surrounding community, (ii) potential passenger segments, and (iii) speculative designs focused on aircraft and processing experience. These parts explore key factors for hydrogen aviation in the context of regional air mobility, including, cost, accessibility, shifting passenger preferences, efficiency gains, and technology developments. We argue that design has a key role to play for inciting systemic transformation in the sector. Central to this are technology acceptance factors that ensure immediate relative advantage and compatibility for passengers.
Keywords
Hydrogen Aviation; Passenger Experience; Scenario Design; Speculative Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.746
Citation
Swann, L., Kelly, N., Rezayan, L., Kerr, J., Lim, T., Jenek, W., Lin, K.E., Day, J., Johnstone, S., Criner, B.,and McKinnon, H.(2023) Hydrogen aviation: Imagining future air travel experience scenarios, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.746
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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Hydrogen aviation: Imagining future air travel experience scenarios
The emergence of hydrogen aviation technology and concepts such as regional air mobility present an opportunity to transform the air travel experience. This pictorial explores this possible future through an air travel scenario set in the context of Queensland, Australia in 2040-2050. The scenario is presented over three parts: (i) analysis of the cost and time benefit that utilising a metropolitan airport would have for passengers in the surrounding community, (ii) potential passenger segments, and (iii) speculative designs focused on aircraft and processing experience. These parts explore key factors for hydrogen aviation in the context of regional air mobility, including, cost, accessibility, shifting passenger preferences, efficiency gains, and technology developments. We argue that design has a key role to play for inciting systemic transformation in the sector. Central to this are technology acceptance factors that ensure immediate relative advantage and compatibility for passengers.