Have you realized that scheduled passenger jet airliner service today travels little or no faster than it did when the Boeing 707 was the state-of-the-art plane in 1958? We briefly had the Concorde and its Russian counterpart but they proved uneconomical niche products and were grounded nearly 20 years ago.
Now comes the announcement that United Airlines has contracted for a small fleet (15) of jets, made by a start-up Boom Supersonic. Their speed, twice as fast as current subsonic commercial airliners. The cost: $3 billion. They’ll burn fuel produced from plant material, making them carbon-neutral if you care. The earliest you’ll be able to buy a ticket will be 2029.
I’d not advise breath-holding waiting on this plane; if it happens, wonderful. I am unclear how it differs importantly from the Concorde, in other than minor details. Like the Concorde, the ticket cost will remain super-premium as the planes are designed for 88 passengers max.
For a more skeptical view of the Boom Supersonic proposal, see this Gizmodo article.
