New passenger jet could be breaking the speed of sound over Ireland by 2029
United plans supersonic rider flights by 2029
By Chris Fox
Technology reporter
Image source, United/Boom
A digital model of the new Overture aircraft in United livery
US airline United has announced plans to purchase 15 new supersonic airliners and "render supersonic speeds to aviation" in the yr 2029.
Supersonic passenger flights ended in 2003 when Air France and British Airways retired Concorde.
The new Overture aircraft will be produced by a Denver-based visitor called Boom, which has yet to flight-exam a supersonic jet.
United'south deal is conditional on the new aircraft meeting safety standards.
What is supersonic flying?
Supersonic flying is when an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound.
At an distance of 60,000ft (18,300m), that ways flight faster than 660mph (1,060km/h).
A typical passenger jet may cruise at near 560mph (900km/h) but Overture is expected to reach speeds of 1,122mph (one,805km/h) - also known as Mach 1.7.
Prototype source, Reuters
Concorde was retired in 2003
At that speed, journeying times on transatlantic routes such as London to New York can be cut in half.
Smash says Overture would be able to make the trip in 3.5 hours, shaving iii hours off the flight.
Concorde, which entered passenger service in 1976, was even faster with a maximum speed of Mach 2.04 - well-nigh 1,350mph (2180km/h).
What are some of the challenges?
In that location are two major concerns with supersonic rider travel: noise and pollution.
Travelling faster than the speed of sound causes a sonic boom, which tin can be heard on the ground as a loud thunderclap or explosion. Information technology's where the visitor Boom got its name.
The blast limits where the planes can wing. Typically they must lower their speed until they are out over the sea, away from citizens who may exist disturbed by the loud blindside.
Boom says it is confident that its plane will not exist any louder than other modern rider jets while taking off, flying over country and landing. It also hopes improvements in aircraft pattern since Concorde will help it reduce and mitigate the sonic boom.
The other big effect is fuel consumption.
"In social club to fly supersonic, you lot will demand more power, y'all volition need more than fuel," Kathy Savitt, Boom'south chief commercial officeholder, told the BBC.
Merely she expects Overture to exist operated as a "net-zip carbon aircraft".
Can supersonic travel really be 'sustainable'?
Central to Boom'due south programme is for Overture to run entirely on sustainable aviation fuel (Saf).
That can have the form of "posh biodiesel" made out of everything from waste animal fat from the farming industry to peculiarly grown high-energy crops, explains Dr Guy Gratton, associate professor of aviation and the surround at Cranfield University.
But one large problem is that "the world is very far from having annihilation like the production capacity needed" to produce plenty biofuel to ability the entire aviation industry, he says.
Blast predicts "power-to-liquid" processes - where renewable energy such as current of air power is used to produce liquid fuel - will make up the shortfall.
"We expect that to be commercialised well before it'due south needed for our purposes," explains Smash's Raymond Russell.
"There are billions of dollars of both airline commitments and investments across the sector."
But information technology remains an industry that needs to be scaled up.
Image source, United/Boom
A digital model of the new Overture aircraft in United livery
"Can you all of a sudden find an enormous additional supply of sustainable electricity at affordable prices?" asks Dr Gratton.
"I'g not proverb information technology can't be done. Information technology may well be done simply it has not been done yet."
Is there demand for supersonic travel?
Despite the enormous cost of Concorde'due south development more than fifty years agone, it is idea to have been profitable for British Airways in its final years of performance.
Concorde was seen equally a luxurious way to travel with tickets costing more than than a first class seat on a regular jet.
Today, the wealthiest travellers may favour private business organisation jets, says Dr Gratton.
Rather than travel first class on a commercial jet with the public, the rich can charter compact private planes that fly on need, straight to-and-from their airports of option. Avoiding the bank check-in desk and luggage carousel can shave time off travelling likewise.
Ms Savitt said Boom's research suggested passengers wanted speed and that faster planes could "deepen human being connections and make better business relationships".
Different Concorde, the company expects Overture to exist assisting for airlines fifty-fifty if tickets are sold for the same price as a "regular concern-class fare".
Ultimately, it is up to United to set its prices - but it will desire to see a return on its $200m-per-plane (£140m) investment.
More than on this story
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57361193
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