The next generation of air travel is being designed right here in Long Beach — at JetZero’s headquarters.
Last week, I got a chance to tour the company’s headquarters and get a preview of their team’s work on a new aircraft, which will boast a blended wing body or “all wing” design concept, which is reminiscent of a futuristic jet where the fuselage and wings merge into one lifting surface.
The new craft, dubbed Jet1, will fit in existing airport terminals, but will be lighter to save energy, according to JetZero. The jet’s interior will boast six aisles, which the company hopes will expedite passenger boarding and cut the process down to just ten minutes total.
And carry-on space is integrated into each seat configuration — so passengers won’t have limited overhead bin space to carry their luggage.
A rendering of JetZero’s Jet1 aircraft, which the company expects to fly in 2027. (Photo courtesy of JetZero).
A rendering of JetZero’s Jet1 aircraft, which the company expects to fly in 2027. (Photo courtesy of JetZero).
JetZero’s Jet1 Demonstrator being fabricated at Scaled Composites in Mojave, CA. (Photo courtesy of JetZero).
JetZero’s Jet1 Demonstrator being fabricated at Scaled Composites in Mojave, CA. (Photo courtesy of JetZero).
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A rendering of JetZero’s Jet1 aircraft, which the company expects to fly in 2027. (Photo courtesy of JetZero).
The project is spearheaded and funded by the United States Air Force.
The interior of JetZero’s 285,000 square-foot headquarters, next door to the Long Beach airport, is sleek and modern with massive mockups of cockpits and passenger seating areas. The company’s homebase looks like the brainchild of Apple designers who studied at Ikea with a hint of Norman Foster’s architectural influence.
Back in the early 1980s, I worked on Space Shuttle Airframe Design at Rockwell — and the aerospace environment of today is a far cry from my first career experience.
One of my first tasks was to help calculate productivity using the “a-holes and elbows” counting method. The logic originated in farm work: If a group of field hands is busy and bent over picking crops, they are being productive Similarly, in aerospace, if a supervisor looked out over a floor of design engineers, and saw nothing but bent arms and bottoms reaching over layout boards, they knew their workers would be considered productive.
Today, though, more sophisticated metrics are used to measure productivity.
JetZero CEO and co-founder Tom O’Leary, during the presentation, said one of the company’s key goals is to be ahead of schedule and under budget.
“Our Demonstrator (“Jet1”) program is hitting the design milestones we set out years ago,” O’Leary said. “Critical Design Review was achieved in May 2025, and we just completed Systems Integration Review in June 2026.”
The project is also on budget, O’Leary said.
“The $235 million funded by the US Air Force was to design and build Jet1, and we remain on track to that budget, supported by our fundraising efforts,” he said. “We closed series B in January of this year at $175 million, with an additional $20 million in a second close of series B. To date, JetZero has raised and secured commitments of more than $1 billion, including government grants, incentives and commercial commitments.”
JetZero expects the plane to take to the skies in 2027.
The media were also invited to tour Scaled Composites in Mojave.
The small manufacturing site is fabricating the full-size test aircraft — it’s the only company with expertise working with composites at this level. The company was founded by Burt Rutan, the brainiac who designed the mast and sail for Stars and Stripes vessel raced in the 1988 America’s Cup.
Rutan’s work at Scaled Composites became a benchmark for future high-performance multihull sails, and five of his full-scale designs are on permanent display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
New thrifting spot
Goodwill Southern Los Angeles County is celebrating the grand opening of its newest retail store and donation center in Lakewood today, Thursday, July 2. Located on Candlewood Street near Lakewood Center, the new location is expected to officially open its doors at 9 a.m.
The new Lakewood location also has a donation center where readers can donate gently used clothing and household goods. Every donation and every purchase directly supports Goodwill.