JetZero to bake wheelchair accessibility into Z4 interior

The innovation is the shape. But with the shape comes a lot — including the ability to ensure wheelchair users can remain in their own mobility devices on board. So said Scott Savian, chief product officer of JetZero, which is building an all-wing, blended wing body (BWB) aircraft that aims to drastically improve aviation’s sustainability... The post JetZero to bake wheelchair accessibility into Z4 interior appeared first on Runway Girl.

Jun 9, 2025 - 16:30

JetZero to bake wheelchair accessibility into Z4 interior

The innovation is the shape. But with the shape comes a lot — including the ability to ensure wheelchair users can remain in their own mobility devices on board. So said Scott Savian, chief product officer of JetZero, which is building an all-wing, blended wing body (BWB) aircraft that aims to drastically improve aviation’s sustainability credentials by burning up to 50% less fuel than today’s tube-and-body airplanes, whilst transforming the passenger experience, including for passengers of reduced mobility (PRMs).

“We all know we need to be more efficient to keep ticket prices down. We need to stop the race to the bottom on the experience, even in economy class, and we can’t put our head in the sand on [Net Zero] 2050 or decide it’s too hard to already give up,” Savian said during a conference session moderated by your author at the Future Travel Experience World Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh, as hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.

Like the airframe, the Z4’s interior will be built from the ground up. Multiple cabin bays, divided by columns, will create a more boutique experience, even in economy class, and a double-wide entry door will enable airlines to board multiple aisles simultaneously “so that we can put 250 people on this aircraft in 12 minutes boarding, and less than six minutes to get off without a sole walking through the kitchen,” Savian said. Moreover, every lav “is as far from the kitchen as possible.”

A Z4 mockup at JetZero’s campus in Long Beach, California is based on a four-bay design, but Savian said in Pittsburgh that “six smaller cabin spaces” could be facilitated.

A center galley complex, he noted, will allow “from-the-front service to every single compartment, no more than 12 rows from any passenger, with a state-of-the-art flight deck and crew rest up front and separate cabin crew spaces in the back.”

Passengers should expect a wider seat in each cabin space, as well as fewer middle seats when compared to traditional tube-and-wing aircraft — with 2-3 and 2-2 layouts favored — plus “a dedicated space for every single person’s bag on board at your seat,” Savian added.

Your author is old enough to remember when Boeing originally pitched the 787 Dreamliner as an eight-abreast aircraft. Most airlines went on to order the twinjet in a dense 9-abreast layout, configured 3-3-3 in economy class. Are wider economy seats really going to happen on the Z4, I asked?

“There will be a chance to densify,” Savian replied. “There will be low-cost operators. But we’ll never see 40% middle seats. We’ll never see 10-abreast. We section the vehicle off so that we can guarantee that wider seat.”

Crucially, the Z4 will provide “direct access to each cabin class in your own wheelchair, and PRM/handicapped lavs built in, standard, exactly where you’d want them,” revealed Savian.

Asked if this means JetZero will create space for wheelchair users to stay in their own mobility devices, the JetZero executive revealed:

Correct. We have to bake it in up front. Otherwise, we put airlines in the impossible situation where they’re deciding between revenue and doing the right thing so we bake it in up front.

The Z4’s double-wide entry door will also make it easier for wheelchair users to enter the aircraft and navigate the space.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have invested in JetZero, with the former taking options for future orders, and the latter agreeing to order up to 200 airplanes if certain program milestones are met. Delta Air Lines has also inked a partnership with JetZero, including to consult on the interior design “to re-invent and further elevate customer and employee experiences”.

JetZero BWB aircraft rendering On the accessibly front, Delta subsidiary Delta Flight Products has been working to bring the innovative Air4All-branded onboard wheelchair securement system through engineering development and manufacturing for existing tube-and-wing aircraft. But given this work, one wonders if Delta will apply its Air4All learnings to the Z4.

Air4All enables Disabled passengers to remain in their own wheelchairs by converting standard passenger seat(s) to an accommodation for a wheelchair restraint system; the space can be converted back to regular seating when wheelchair securement is not required.

The 250-passenger Z4 will boast a 5,000 nautical mile capability. Importantly, it will be able to use existing jet bridges at airports.

JetZero is working with engine-maker and RTX subsidiary Pratt and Whitney on a full scale demonstrator that is expected to fly in 2027 using PW2040 engines — part of the established PW2000 engine family that powers Boeing 757 aircraft. “So they’ve committed to that program. It’s going to demonstrate the L over D that delivers the efficiency,” Savian said in reference to the impressive ratio of lift generated by the Z4 to the drag it experiences, “and it’ll be on a 40-year old engine, no smoke and mirrors.”

With that new airframe, however, “we’ll be ready for any new engine that comes along,” he assured. The Z4 will initially use Jet-A fuel, whilst delivering up to 50% less fuel burn through its all-wing design. It will accommodate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) as Jet-A/SAF blends are agreed by the operators.

Under an ongoing program at NASA called AACES, a hydrogen-powered variant of JetZero’s BWB aircraft is being studied. “We will not be producing the hydrogen or the hydrogen propulsion, but a blended wing body and all-wing aircraft really solves kind of part of the issues with the challenges with hydrogen,” said Savian.

“It’s energy dense, but very voluminous. So a plane that uses a lot less and doesn’t take passenger space to introduce hydrogen becomes really, really valuable.”

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All images credited to JetZero

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