Fairplane is a concept developed by Synergeon.

Synergeon is a Dutch based company that is involved in product development and business development.

History

The idea about the Fairplane surfaced in 2004. In that time in the Netherlenads a lot of debating was going on about the cost of high speed train systems. The Betuwelijn, a rail system especially designed for freight trains was well underway, also a high speed passenger train was planned to go into service around 2008. Cost were rising astronomically. At the same time the delivery time was pushed forward.

Synergeon at that time was based close to were the Betuwelijn was developed. During the development of this railway line it became clear costs would rise to at least 25 million Euro  per kilometer of track. At the same time ticket prices for charter flights were dropping to one of the lowest levels ever. A ticket by train to Paris would soon become cheaper by plain then by train.

That sparked the thought to do some research why a railway line is so expensive if there would be a way to create some kind of hybrid version of a that combines some of the typical train and airplain characteristics. Suddenly there was the memory of a story about WWII bombers that were able to reach Britain safely even though an engine was out and parts of the plane were missing. The bombers saved fuel due to a phenomena called the wing in ground effect. At this point the idea for the Fairplane emerged as an image.

After making some sketches, some artists impressions the concept ended up in an archive cabinet. It would take until 2008 when new opportunities came along that it was decided to do more research. It was decided to create a small scale model that could help explain the aspects of this type of flight.

Current status

The Fairplane scale model was presented at a number of occasions. Several Dutch organizations active in the field of public transport and innovation have been contacted and in some cases the scale model was presented. Unfortunately, that is were the project is today.

Since there seems to be no interest in this new way of transport Synergeon is now looking for international partners with an interest in public transport.