The French-British supersonic aircraft Concorde was retired in 2003. Soon, it may be possible to travel faster than sound again – with the American passenger aircraft Overture.
It is the American airline United that has now announced that it has placed an order for 15 Overture aircraft from Denver-based manufacturer Boom Supersonic, with an option on a further 35 aircraft, Reuters writes.
Overture is a supersonic aircraft that can halve the flight time between, for example, London and New York to around 3.5 hours. A journey between San Francisco and Tokyo is estimated to take six hours instead of the current ten hours – when travelling at supersonic speed at an altitude of just over 18 kilometres.
The first flights are expected to take off in 2029. The purchase is conditional on the aircraft meeting the safety requirements set by United. However, the number of seats is limited, between 65 and 88 seats, as there will only be tickets corresponding to business class.
The venture goes against the grain of developments in the aviation industry in recent years, where more and more airlines have chosen to focus on cost savings, especially after the coronavirus pandemic, which has dealt a heavy blow to the industry. However, the model has an environmental aspect as the aircraft are intended to use only renewable fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions to zero.
The Concorde passenger jet entered regular service in the 1970s. However, costs became high, and when an Air France Concorde jet crashed in July 2000 with 113 fatalities, all traffic was stopped. The last commercial flight took place in October 2003.
Source: TT
