JetZero Raises $175 Million to Build the Aircraft That Could Replace Every Plane in the Sky

The Long Beach startup is betting that a radical "blended wing" design—50% more fuel efficient and decades in the making—will become the standard for commercial aviation by 2050

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LONG BEACH, Calif. — While the tech industry obsesses over the next AI model, a startup operating out of a hangar near Long Beach Airport is working on something far more tangible: redesigning the shape of the airplane itself.

JetZero announced this week that it has closed a $175 million Series B round led by B Capital, with participation from United Airlines Ventures, Northrop Grumman, 3M Ventures, Trucks VC, and RTX Ventures. The funding will accelerate development of the company’s Z4 airliner, a blended wing body aircraft that promises to cut fuel consumption by half compared to conventional jets.

“This is the future,” says JetZero’s CEO in a recent facility tour. “By 2050, we believe all planes coming off the line will be all-wing because it’s just that much more efficient.”

The Physics of a Frisbee

The science behind JetZero’s design is elegantly simple. Traditional aircraft—what engineers call “tube-and-wing” configurations—are essentially cylindrical fuselages with wings bolted on. The fuselage creates drag while the wings generate lift. It’s a compromise that has defined commercial aviation for nearly a century.

The blended wing body eliminates that compromise. By merging the fuselage and wings into a single lifting surface, the entire aircraft generates lift, dramatically reducing drag.

“Think of it like a Frisbee instead of a Coke bottle,” explains a company representative. “If you throw a Coke bottle, it flies and drops faster. A Frisbee stays in the air. That’s why this design is so fuel-efficient.”

The result: 50% lower fuel burn using conventional jet engines and standard aviation fuel. No exotic propulsion systems. No waiting for battery technology that may never arrive. Just better aerodynamics.

“Physics is undefeated,” the CEO notes. “It always wins. And this is the most aerodynamic shape.”

A Gap in the Market No One Could Fill

JetZero isn’t just building a more efficient airplane—it’s targeting a market segment that Boeing and Airbus have never been able to serve.

The Z4 is designed for 200 to 250 passengers in a three-class configuration. That puts it squarely between single-aisle narrowbodies and twin-aisle widebodies, a gap the industry calls “the middle of the market.”

“Neither Boeing nor Airbus produces a plane with between 200 and 250 passengers. None,” the CEO explains. “It’s a weird function of geometry. We have single-aisle tubes and twin-aisle tubes, but there’s no aisle-and-a-half tube. That doesn’t work.”

The blended wing body’s unconventional shape solves this geometric puzzle, allowing JetZero to offer capacity that tube-and-wing physics simply cannot deliver efficiently.

The company uses a car analogy: “Imagine if you were selling cars and there were three-passenger cars and six-passenger cars, but no four or five-passenger cars. If you were building a new car, you’d make a four-passenger car because there aren’t any.”

The Living Room in the Sky

Step inside JetZero’s full-scale cabin mockup and the difference is immediately apparent. The Z4 is wider than a Boeing 747. It’s wider than an Airbus A380. The interior feels less like an aircraft cabin and more like an open loft space.

“We call it the living room in the sky,” says a company guide. “It’s more of a living room than a hallway.”

The width enables configurations that are impossible in conventional aircraft. Instead of one or two aisles, the Z4 can accommodate up to six, transforming the boarding process. Airlines could potentially load passengers in a fraction of the time it takes today.

“Gone are the bottlenecks,” the CEO says. “Gone is marching past the first-class seats and feeling that envy. You just go straight to your seat, you’ve got a bin for your bag, and off you go.”

Window seats will be fewer but far more dramatic. The aircraft’s triangular nose means some passengers will have forward-facing windows—views that have never existed on commercial aircraft. For those seated in the interior, the company plans to install live camera feeds on seatback displays, effectively giving every seat a window.

The Z4’s cockpit offers significantly more space than conventional aircraft. (Image: NewsNation)

Quieter Skies

The Z4’s engines are mounted on top of the aircraft rather than beneath the wings. This isn’t just an aesthetic choice—it fundamentally changes the plane’s noise signature.

“The engines radiate noise upward instead of reflecting it downward,” the CEO explains. “People who live around airports are going to really like this plane.”

For passengers, the top-mounted engines also mean a quieter cabin experience on long-haul flights.

Same Gates, Same Pilots, Same Fuel

One of the biggest challenges facing aviation innovation is infrastructure compatibility. Airports have spent billions building gates, taxiways, and runways designed for conventional aircraft. Hydrogen-powered planes would require entirely new fueling systems. Electric aircraft would need charging infrastructure that doesn’t exist.

JetZero sidesteps all of these obstacles. The Z4 fits into existing widebody gates. It uses standard jet fuel and conventional engines. And critically, pilots can transition to the aircraft with minimal additional training.

“Folks who are airline pilots, who are Air Force pilots, who come in and fly the simulator here are amazed at how similar it is,” the CEO says. “They sit right down in the seat and off they go.”

The only notable difference, according to pilots who have tested the simulator: the aircraft feels “more buoyant” and requires keeping the nose up slightly longer during landing. One pilot described it as “kind of floaty when you get to the ground.”

The Airlines Are Already Lining Up

JetZero has assembled what it calls an “airline working group” comprising 15 of the world’s leading carriers. United, Delta, and Alaska Airlines have all backed the company—United with conditional orders for 200 aircraft.

“That sign of demand for a product is such a great thing for a startup,” the CEO acknowledges. “To see the market saying, ‘We want this plane. Please de-risk it. Don’t get too fancy with it. Just make it simple and get it to us.’”

The range of over 5,000 miles means the Z4 can serve transcontinental routes like LAX to JFK as well as transatlantic flights from the Eastern United States to Europe. Speed remains comparable to existing jets—this isn’t a supersonic play, but rather an efficiency play.

The Road to 2027

JetZero’s immediate focus is its 2027 demonstrator—a full-scale prototype that will translate decades of simulations and wind-tunnel testing into actual flight data.

“Hardware is coming into the hangar now,” the CEO confirms. “We’re already beginning to implement and test for a full-scale demonstrator.”

The company is using what engineers call “hardware in the loop” testing, connecting physical components to flight simulators. The simulator doesn’t know it’s connected to real hardware; the hardware doesn’t know it’s not actually flying. This approach allows the team to validate systems before they ever leave the ground.

“That’s how you test and get to a level of safety with flight-ready hardware,” the CEO explains. “It’s why we’re incredibly confident about 2027.”

Following the demonstrator, JetZero targets certification and entry into service by 2030. The company projects tens of planes in the early 2030s, hundreds by mid-decade, and thousands per year by 2050.

From the B-2 to the Boarding Gate

The blended wing body concept isn’t new. NASA has studied the configuration for decades, and its origins trace back to military aviation—specifically, the B-2 stealth bomber.

“Many years ago, NASA came to our designers and said, ‘Here’s a B-2 stealth bomber. Is that going to translate into passenger travel at some point?’” the CEO recounts. “That was really the genesis of this aircraft design.”

The team building the Z4 includes engineers who spent their careers on some of the most successful commercial aircraft in history, including the Airbus A220 and Boeing 787. “They come to JetZero and say it’s almost as though their entire career has prepared them for this moment,” the CEO says. “Every piece of experience they’ve had in the business is setting them up for building this future.”

Eventually Everyone

When asked about competition, the CEO draws a comparison to his time at Tesla more than 15 years ago, when people would ask who the electric car company’s competitors were.

“The answer was eventually everyone,” he recalls. “That’s really the way we look at this. We’re the first to do something that eventually all aircraft companies will be doing.”

It’s a bold claim, but JetZero is betting that the same physics that make the blended wing body more efficient will eventually make it inevitable. The question isn’t whether aviation will adopt this shape, but when—and whether JetZero can maintain its lead.

For now, the company remains focused on the work ahead: turning a mockup in a Long Beach hangar into the aircraft that could redefine how the world flies.

“This is the future,” the CEO says, surveying the cavernous interior of the Z4 mockup. “And it’s going to be amazing.”

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