A bizarre new floating hotel concept is giving travellers a truly extraordinary vacation experience that looks to have come from out of a retro-futuristic film.
The ambitious concept, created by Tony Holmsten and reinvented by Hashem Al-Ghaili, is a cross between a massive cruise liner and a jumbo plane. The end result is a flying hotel with room for more than 5,000 people. Think of Etihad’s Residence suite, which on a commercial flight entitles you to a private bedroom, living area, and bathroom, but on steroids.
The Sky Cruise is equipped with a tonne of amenities, including a viewing tower with 360-degree views for searching for the Aurora Borealis and stores, gyms, theatres, restaurants, and even a place to host the ideal wedding.
Al-Ghaili explains that the floating vessel would be powered by nuclear energy and equipped with 20 hypersonic engines, enabling the aircraft to remain in the air for years with no carbon emissions. This implies that routine tasks like restocking supplies and doing maintenance checks would all be carried out aboard an aeroplane that was in motion. More crucially, it would be necessary for regular aeroplanes or private jets to land on top of the enormous plane in order to load and unload passengers.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more bizarre, the monster ship won’t require pilots – establishing it as “the future of transport” says Al-Ghaili. Instead, it is set to be fully autonomous and powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Passengers afraid of air turbulence need not worry as the plane will also be equipped with a navigation system using AI to predict wind patterns to offer a smooth sail.
The flying hotel has not yet had a launch date, but it has already generated a lot of discussion on social media, with many science aficionados criticising the plans’ lack of viability. The creators apparently forgot that this object was intended to fly, according to one user, who also added that “If physics and aerodynamics didn’t exist, then this vessel could actually be able to take off.”
