China adds an 800-passenger jet with ‘flying wing’ body to its big aircraft plan

A Chinese research team has unveiled an aerodynamic model for a massive flying-wing passenger aircraft that could carry more than 800 people, marking a bold new entry in the country’s large aircraft programme.Unlike conventional aircraft that have separate fuselage, wings and tail, a flying wing merges most of the structure into a single broad lifting body.The proposed design is 85 metres (280 feet) wide and 43 metres long, with a wingspan roughly 1.6 times that of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which also uses a flying-wing layout. By comparison, the Airbus A380, currently the world’s largest passenger jet, typically seats about 555 passengers.