The Boom Supersonic, which debuted at the Dubai Airshow this week, promises to take passengers from Washington D.C. to San Francisco to London in only two and a half hours. The estimated speed is about three times more than an average aircraft but comes at the price of business class air tickets.
The Supersonic craft will be able to carry 55 passengers, said founder Blake Scholl at a press conference on Monday. The new craft will utilise the speed of Mach 2.2, which is about 1,687mph, and will be having prices 75 percent lower than the Concorde aircraft, which used to fly at Mach 2.0 speed. It will also be quieter than the Concorde as it will possess a turbo fan instead of the old afterburner with a roaring sound.
The new aircraft will take four hours to fly from London to Dubai and three and a half hours to fly from Paris to New York. "Leave New York at 6 am, make afternoon and dinner meetings in London and be home to tuck your kids into bed," says the company website.
A mini proof-of-concept jet, XB-1, will carry out the first test flight of this craft, during the coming new year, confirms Boom. Scholl has assured that the new plane will be faster, cheaper and quieter than its predecessor, the Concorde aircraft.
He hopes that the plane will be available for commercial flight by 2025. Currently, Boom Technology is trying to fix a spot where the airliner will be built, after which it aims to produce 100 jets per year. Reports say that 76 jets have already been pre-ordered.
Although supersonic travel is banned according to the US federal law, Scholl is positive that the laws will be revised as they are now up for renegotiation. "Both the House and Senate versions of the FAA re-authorization bill have very positive language on supersonics. The Senate bill, in particular, would repeal the speed limit," says Scholl, as reported by CNBC.
After Concorde, aircraft companies around the world have joined the race for creating a supersonic aircraft. NASA is working on a prototype named 'Son of Concorde', whereas Airbus already possesses a plane named Concorde 2. Other prominent names in the competition are Lockhead QueSST, Aerion Corporation AS2 and Spike Aerospace S-512, among others.
Check out the video below to understand the aircraft better:
