Supersonic Planes Are Back!

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Apart from going to space, flight may be humanity's greatest achievement. And while flying is fast, you can always go faster.


overture-sunset.jpg

Credit: BoomSupersonic.com

Recently, United Airlines have signed a contract with Boom Supersonic to deliver 15 supersonic airplanes. The planes named Overture will be able to reach a maximum speed of 1.7 Mach (2099 kph) and will be able to reduce the time spent flying over continents in half so while flying with current planes will require 7 hours to fly from Newark to Frankfurt using Overture will take up just 4 hours.

Supersonic United

You probably are aware that we used to have supersonic planes for commercial use. But the Concord project showed that supersonic air travel does come with a number of disadvantages. Mostly much higher cost, increased fuel consumption, or even less space for travelers.

The last-mentioned disadvantage of supersonic aircraft is being dissolved by United by a promise that the Boom Overture planes will have more than enough personal space for the passengers. On top of that, they can also get ready for displays in their seats and wireless technologies. The cabins should resemble the current business class where every passenger has direct access to the aisle and a large window.

Based on the configuration the planes should be able to carry 65 to 88 passengers while flying at a height of 18.2 kilometers – much higher than current passenger airplanes. At the same time, they should have a range of roughly 7,900 kilometers. On top of that, Boom Supersonic promises 100 % sustainable fuel with 0 carbon dioxide emissions.

The Future Is Faster Than Sound

If you can’t wait to buy a ticket for the supersonic plane… well… I will have to cool down your excitement a bit. The Overture plane should be introduced in 2025, first flights should take place in 2026, and only in 2029 should the first commercial passengers sit in them. But, if all goes well United has the chance to order up to 35 more supersonic planes leaving it with a fleet of 50 supersonic planes.

Of course, Boom Supersonic isn’t the only company that is working on getting supersonic air travel back. Apart from private companies such as Lockheed Martin even NASA is working on this with their Project X-59. And while NASA doesn’t plan to sell its design it certainly does hope to improve technologies to a point when commercial projects will become viable.

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This is very cool, Specially the fact that this will be a lot sustainable and 0 emission. This is really exciting.
Why they don't update their current normal plan technology to go sustainable and produce 0 Emission? That will be more environment friendly, is not it ?
!LUV 2

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I do not know why current planes aren't being upgraded but my guess would be that the technology is so old that upgrading it would actually cost more than building new planes altogether.

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If I remember correctly, the Concorde was mainly used for business trips, and a few wealthy people. With the somewhat small number of seats and the business class setting in these new planes, I'm guessing this will also be quite pricy. With the current reduction of business travel, isn't it kind of a dangerous bet?
I need to look up the details about their sustainability claims, if that is true, that is really great improvement.

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