The passenger aircraft of the future could one day be flown by remote, using pilots sitting in a control room hundreds of miles away. Tests on a new breed of civilian aircraft which use the same pilotless technology currently found in military drones begin next month in the UK.

The consortium behind the project hopes it will dramatically slash the costs of air travel and make new airborne services possible. (“Good morning, this is your pilot speaking. And if you look out the left side windows of the aircraft, I have no idea what you’re seeing