A new poll by a flight comparison site in the UK has revealed what Britons think the ‘planes of the future’ will hold; with many believing that ‘secure smoking areas’ will be available on future flights along with ‘fast-food outlets’ on board. 

With aviation technology and passenger planes ever-evolving, a new study has looked into what UK fliers believe the ‘planes of the future’ will hold; with ‘secure smoking areas’ and ‘fast-food outlets’ topping the charts as the most common predictions.

The study, conducted by flight comparison site www.Jetcost.co.uk, aimed to look into what UK fliers believed the future will hold for commercial aviation; polling 1,921 Britons aged 18 and over who had flown abroad in the past 5 years.

Those taking part were asked “What new features do you believe passenger planes will have on-board by the year 2020?” and asked to choose their predictions from a list of possible answers.

According to the results, the top 10 most common predictions for ‘planes of the future’, according to UK fliers, were as follows:
1) Fast-food outlets (on-board) – 46%
2) Secure smoking areas- 44%
3) Shops/ retail outlets – 41%
4) Shower Rooms/ Cubicles- 36%
5) Tablet Computers for Every Passenger- 35%
6) Gym Equipment/ Work-Out Areas- 32%
7) Spa/ Treatment rooms- 29%
8) Private Rooms for Passengers- 23%
9) Office/ Work Areas- 19%
10) Standing Passenger Sections (for cheaper airfare)- 17%

Despite being proposed by Ryanair just a few years ago, just 17% of those taking part felt that standing sections for passengers looking for a cheaper air-fare would actually be a reality by the year 2020. In fact, the study found that the most common predictions for planes of the future revolved around feeding unhealthy habits for passengers; being smoking and fast-food.

Jerome Cohen-Scali, Co-Founder of Jetcost.co.uk, commented on the findings:
“Planes are certainly evolving at a fast pace, and if you look how far they’ve come in the past 20 years it certainly makes the mind wonder what they’ll be like in another 20 years time! With this research, we really wanted to look into what UK fliers’ expectations were for planes of the future so asked them to predict what may be on board by the year 2020, with some of the results surprising.”

He continued:
“It was interesting to see that the most common predictions revolved around feeding the unhealthy habits of passengers, enabling the ability to both smoke and eat fast-food. It seems strange to predict that future planes will allow smoking with it having been banned on flights not too long ago, but this suggests that UK fliers may be hoping that development on future planes will allow for smoking to return safely. Whilst I can’t say it is likely that this may happen, you never know; although it would inevitably cause controversy. As for spa and treatment rooms- that would be the life!”