BUSINESS TRAVELLER . How pod planes could change travel forever

Futuristic and disruptive There are several independent initiatives exploring the feasibility of modular planes, which could transform the way people and cargo travel. One of these revolutionary aircraft designs, called Clip-Air, has been created by Switzerland's Federal Polytechnic Institute. Another is the Link & Fly concept, designed by AKKA Technologies, a European engineering services firm. While the concept might be boundary-pushing, the inspiration for Clip-Air is more mundane: the humble shipping container. Despite, or perhaps because of, its simple design, the shipping container is one of the most disruptive inventions of the past century. It allows cargo to be moved cheaply from one mode of transport to another and has facilitated the development of the complex supply chains all modern economies rely on. Transfer from truck to giant cargo ship to freight train is seamless and the container can be used again and again, drastically reducing the cost of long-distance shipping. That's the magic of inter-modal transport -- and it's something this futuristic and potentially game-changing concept hopes to emulate.