(USA)
Commercial flights transporting passengers from New York to London in just three hours and fifteen minutes could become a reality again within five years.
Supersonic flight has been possible for more than half a century. Concorde offered passengers supersonic travel across the Atlantic for nearly two decades but it ultimately fell to financial pressures.
But with advances in technology and design we are seeing the dawn of sustainable supersonic travel with Boom Supersonic Passenger Airplanes.
Blake Scholl – Founder and CEO of Boom – said: “To accomplish our goal of affordable supersonic travel we challenged our engineering team to create a design at least 30% more efficient than Concorde.”
The availability of advanced materials – such as carbon fiber composites – has allowed the Boom team to realise the light weight aerodynamic design needed to increase efficiency.
“We finally have the technology for efficient, economical, and safe supersonic flight. Key technologies, such as composite fuselages and high-temperature material systems, have only recently been accepted by the FAA for commercial aircraft,” Boom says.
Another key element to the sustainability of a supersonic service is affordability.
Boom said: “We are designing the aircraft so that airlines can operate profitably while charging the same fares as today’s business class. Our ultimate vision is to reduce operating costs to make supersonic flight even more affordable.”
It is estimated the price of a ticket from New York to London would be around $2500 each way.
Later this year Boom will test its XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator (a one-third scale realization of the Boom passenger airliner) with the ultimate goal of offering customers regular flights via major airlines in the early 2020s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJkM-ykKRxg
