With the advancement in technology, traveling machines have also progressed themselves! And the kind of world that we live in has also become a need of the hour. Let’s go through them and be aware of ourselves in this niche.
1. Private Jets
A private jet or business jet, or bizjet, is a jet aircraft used for accommodating small groups of people from one place to another. They are also used for carrying casualties’, parcel deliveries. Government officials and armed forces also use some.
There are three types of operators that own and manage private jets.
- Flight departments – These are corporate-owned operators that look after the aircraft of a particular company. For ex-Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, and Altria. Personnel of Flight departments deal with all the types of aircraft operation, and it’s maintenance.
According to a study done in 2010 by The United States National Business Aviation Association, small companies that use jets produce 219% more earnings growth rate than the ones who just use airlines.
- Charter companies – Charter companies manage their jets for various clients. They look after the aircraft for a private owner or corporation and also deal with the sales of an available flight time on the aircraft that they own. There is also a presence of aircraft charter brokers in the market with the website and the feature of online business. Aircraft charter operators are legally responsible for the safety of the aircraft.
- Fractional ownership – Fractional ownership of aircraft revolves around an individual or corporation which pays an equity share for the cost of an aircraft. If four parties are involved, the amount would be shared among them, including the gains and losses. Any one of them is free to sell the part of their share as they want to.
Jets are also classified according to their size –
- Very light jets – They have a maximum limit of 12,500 pounds for takeoff and are approved for single-pilot operation. They can carry 6-7 passengers over a 1174nmi average range with a $4.4M mean price.
- Light jets can accommodate 6-8 passengers over a 1953nmi average range with a $9.6 mean price.
- Mid-size jets – These aircraft are good for long-range travel, like transcontinental flights. They can carry 9 passengers over a 2540nmi average range with a $15.7M mean price.
- Super mid-size jets – These aircraft types have wide-body cabin space, high altitude capability, speed, and long range. They can accommodate 10-11 passengers over a 3420nmi average range with a $22.2M mean price.
- Large jets can carry 13-14 passengers over a 4001nmi average range with a $33.8M mean price.
- Long-range jets – These aircraft can accommodate 12-19 passengers over a 6498nmi average range with a $61.2M mean price.
- VIP airliners – These airliners are converted into business jets and are mostly used by sports teams or VIPs with large press corps. They are one of the most expensive aircraft as it has a lot of space and features.
2. Supersonic Business Jets
A supersonic Business Jet is a kind of jet that travels above the speed of sound. Some manufacturers are working on it, but it’s not currently available. They are intended to accommodate 10 passengers and would be of the same size as subsonic business jets are.
Two commercial supersonic means of transport have entered the service. The Aerospatiale/British Aerospace Concorde and The Tupolev TU-144. Both are government projects and have not come up with recouping development costs. They have high operating costs and high noise as well.
3. Trains
Amtrak’s Acela(reaching 150mph, 240km/hr) is the highest speed rail service in the U.S. Their new trains have a speed of 165mph(265km/hr) and 186mph(300km/hr) which are awaited. Their current speed is 125mph(201km/hr).
President Biden has recently revealed his major infrastructure plan with two provisions involving passenger rail with $185 million and $80 million to improve the rail network.
4. The Boring Company
The Boring Company’s motive is to solve traffic and transform cities.
- Building Tunnels – This will solve the hassle occurring in traffic. Roads should be 3D, and there would be flying cars or tunnels. These tunnels would be weatherproof, out of sight, and won’t fall. They will take lesser space and won’t intervene in already existing transportation systems. A large network of tunnels can help in avoiding congestion in a city.
- Introducing loop – This is electric with zero-emission, underground public transportation system where passengers are taken to their destinations without any stoppage.
This is located at Las Vegas Convention Center and is the first commercially operating Loop system.
- Meet Prufrock – Prufrock is made in a way that it would establish mega-infrastructure projects in a week rather than in years. It is designed into a tunnel with a speed of 1 mile per week, which is 6 times faster than The Boring Company’s previous generation TBM (Godot-Plus).
5. Electric Cars
These types of cars are run by one or more electric motors, and they use energies stored in rechargeable batteries. Compared to Internal Combustion Engine(ICE) vehicles, electric cars produced less noise with no exhaust emissions. In the U.S, in 2020, the total cost of ownership of recent EVs is less than that of ICE cars due to low fueling and maintenance costs as charging an electric car can be managed at various charging stations, which can be instilled in both houses as well as public places. Several countries have government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles, tax credits, subsidies, and other non-monetary incentives. California is one of the largest vehicle markets in the world.
6. Drones
Drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle, are aircraft that don’t have any human pilot, crew, or passengers inside. They have a ground-based controller and a system of communications with UAVs. They can be operated remotely by a human operator as remotely piloted aircraft with different degrees of autonomy, such as autopilot assistance. They were developed in the twentieth century for military missions. Due to the progress in technologies, they are now used for aerial photography, product deliveries, agriculture, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, science, smuggling, and drone racing.
These are just a few of them; there are still vehicles or machines being designed and made in workshops or labs, waiting to be tested and approved. With time, even these things have started aging and producing the best of them according to the market’s demand.
