It's a hard sell for passenger airliners to accept blended wing models since the ones seated at the fringes are going to see a massive incline as the plane turns which becomes safety headaches for the flight attendants.
That more depends on the design, and If the interior matches the external structure. I think what would move forward are the hybrid wing bodies for Airliners these would have a conventional nose, tail and passenger cabin profile. The Blended space would be mostly utility like landing gear, Avionics, batteries, Fuel and cargo/freight.
The more not conventional machines would I think be more specialized to dedicated Cargo roles Where They don't really care about the shape.
For the long distances flying will remain boring unless passengers are able to walk around and possibly sleep confortably.
We have already seen larger class Aircraft like the 747-8 and A380 adopt more snooze friendly features for premium seats
And adding bars and lounges. Those are for the uppermost tier Long Haul liners. Not for the regional hops.
The way to reduce fuel consumption and avoid CO2 production is then the a liquid hydrogen fuelled airship. Flying at 200 km/h a flight from England to Australia will take not two hours but four days. But the fuel fraction for such a flight would be less than 3 %!
but 4 days on such means 4 days of food, 4 days of being trapped in a Carbon fiber gondola 4 days of being stuck with your fellow humanity in tight quarters. It would demand a Hindenberg style accommodations but the inefficiency of speed and such makes it dubious. Where an Airship might shine is in more remote reaches for Short hops in my opinion. Where in It's S/Vtol means it can land in far out places like remote villages or islands. where people want or need to travel but the closest Airport is hundreds of miles. parts of Alaska/Canada, China, Russia, Pacific islands. places where the next destination is close but unreachable without air or boat yet lack the space for a major airport or Harbor. Imagine flying to Hawaii landing on the large Island then hoping a Airship ferry to one of the smaller less crowded islands, the flight might be slow but they could make up for it with breathtaking views.
This also comes to Clean Sky as another interest in that program is Tiltrotors. Which can move more aviation to smaller less used fields for more efficiency based regional and local trips.
I think these exotic designs will never first appear on any passenger liners. If they show up they will first show up on some military transport project, or some executive jet, then wait 20 years and then they will appear on a passenger liner.
The Key driver for these is to reduce Fuel consumption ( IE COST ) to make a more efficient airframe. The Cheaper the flight the Cheaper the ticket, The more passengers will buy the cheaper the ticket. the more passengers flying the more the Airlines would be willing to buy Airframes Which feeds the industry bottom line.
Current commercial aviation has to find new ways to evolve, The Hub system is getting over worked and inefficient.
OMG Mace that's so Ugly It doesn't need lift the Earth just rejects it on principle!
