Should the airline industry begin designing donut shaped airplanes? It’s a suggestion posed by the folks over at Lonely Planet, who after running an informal survey discovered that over 60% of respondents preferred sitting in the aisle over the window on an airplane.
Problem is, few seats on an aircraft are actually adjacent to a window. And that’s where the crafty design comes in.
In jest, LP put together a few different concepts to engineer more window-room into an aircraft. Their most adventurous? The donut shaped airplane, where a hole in the middle of the body allows passengers on the inside of the cabin to look down (and across) out into the blue sky.
Another option proposed was the glass bottomed aircraft, so that all passengers can see directly below them at all times. Yikes.
Admittedly LPs sampling for their study is probably a bit skewed — anyone reading their guides or site is probably already more adventurous than three quarters of the world (and thus might have a higher probability to stare out the window) but the survey is an interesting study in “what if.” For now, passengers will have to settle with watching the nose and belly cam of their aircraft on the right In Flight Entertainment.
You can check out the designs crafted by LP over at their travel blog.