'Size does not matter - efficiency does'

THE future of air travel lies in efficiency, not size, according to an engineer who worked on the largest passenger plane in the world.

Airbus engineer Colin Brazendale, 53, visited the island to talk to students and engineers.

Mr Brazendale (pictured) said new aircraft will be much smaller.

'The A380 is probably the largest we can build,' he said.

'What we are doing now is pushing performance. We are going to look closely at the efficiency of planes.'

He said designs were constantly developing and environmental issues were high on the company's agenda.

While there is no chance of an electrically powered plane in the near future, biofuels are already being developed to power aircraft.

'Nothing is closed off, and we are robustly exploring new fuels,' he said.

He spoke to pupils at Elizabeth College about the challenges the company had faced with the A380.

'They asked some good questions,' he said.