Dwarfed by huge jets all around, the mini-plane Thor was nonetheless an eye-catcher at the Berlin air show this week - the small Airbus marvel is the world's first 3-D-printed aircraft.

Windowless, weighing in at just 21 kilograms and less than four meters long, the drone Thor - short for "Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality" - resembles a large, white model airplane.

Yet to the European aerospace giant Airbus, the small pilotless propeller aircraft is a pioneer that offers a taste of things to come - an aviation future when 3-D printing technology promises to save time, fuel and money.