Supersonic flight will come back

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The famous Concorde was spotted for the final time at Heathrow Airport in October 2003, the supersonic air travel time had reportedly come to an end.

When Concorde first appeared on the aviation scene in 1976, it certainly made an impact. It was able to fly at the speed of Mach 2, traveling on Concorde reduced the duration of the trip from London to New York to just three hours – less than half the average flight time when compared to the subsonic aircraft.

Business and business leaders of the highest profile flocked to experience Concorde’s unrivalled speed and luxurious service, and the jet soon became an exclusive experience that many aspired to.

However, hit by increasing fuel costs that surpassed profit , and a limit on the routes the aircraft could travel due to its noise levels and noise levels, in the last 25 years of’ service Concorde was not a viable investment.

The notorious crash of Air France’s Concorde Flight 4590 in 2000, that killed 113 people as it was leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, had also taken its toll. Until that point, Concorde had enjoyed an impeccable safety rating and was regarded to be among the most secure aircraft in the world.

Following an investigation that revealed that the aircraft had slammed into debris in the runway prior to take-off that caused one of the tyres rupture and puncture the fuel tank, changes were implemented. They included Kevlar lined fuel tanks as well as specially designed burst-resistant tyres.

However, this did not make a huge difference and, in 2003, dwindling passenger numbers due to the Paris crash and the 9/11 terrorist attacks prompted Concorde’s owners, Air France and British Airways, to simultaneously announce that they would be closing the aircraft later in the year.

A handful of efforts were attempted to revive Concorde. However, the operating costs were high, the number of passengers was limited and a growing thirst for cheaper travel, along with Airbus dropping its support for maintenance, ultimately resulted in the supersonic flight was to be put away behind museum walls.

Between 2003 and the late 2010s, there was little change on the subject of supersonic planes. The growing demand for aircrafts that could carry more passengers and burn fuel economically meant there was little appetite to develop an advanced Concorde equivalent.

But, in the year 2019, all that was changed as a race to develop supersonic jets that could travel faster than the speed of sound started to build momentum.

A number of start-ups with different levels of ambition were aiming to bring about the future of supersonic air travel. One of them is Boom – a Denver-based company that, in just five years of operation it had raised $141 million from investors in order to build 55-seat aircrafts that could fly at more than twice the speed sound. However, there was one major differentiator from Concorde and Concorde: competitive fares for passengers.

Boom announces that its Overture jet, which is due to roll off production lines from 2025 it will be able to fly at Mach 1.7 (slightly lower than the speed of Concorde’s Mach 2.04) which is more than twice the speed of the current fastest commercial aircraft.

Virgin Atlantic – a company well-known for its investment in the future of air travel, and a fervent advocate for Concorde is the first to reach an agreement with Boom in the year 2016, agreeing to work with the company in the construction and test its aircrafts.

Since then, two additional operators, United Airlines and American Airlines have made orders using Boom for 20 and 15 aircraft, respectively. Evidently, the desire for travel that is supersonic has returned. But what changed and why are travel companies now eager to offer a supersonic option once more?

Some of this is answered by Boom’s founder Blake Scholl. With no background in aerospace, Scholl set about researching ways to revive supersonic flight after he gave up looking for someone else who could fulfil his desire to fly on Concorde one day.

When he was making plans for his start-up Scholl’s research found that operating expenses were the main factor to restoring supersonic air travel. He stated:

“Concorde was too expensive to operate, so few people could afford to fly on it. Using Wikipedia, I ran the numbers to work out what I would have to do to make it economically feasible. It turns out the answer is to make the fuel efficiency 30% better. So, I went and read some aerospace textbooks, and took a design class, and started to meet everyone I could find in the industry. I told them to shoot holes in my ideas. Eventually, people started to say, ‘this actually makes sense’ – so we started a company.”

Concorde was a luxurious aircraft, but was renowned for having a very small cabin, which meant passengers had to endure cramped conditions. Boom’s aircraft will tackle this by installing wide seats, big windows and creating ample space to work and relax.

While the experience for passengers flying supersonic is being upgraded but there aren’t precise figures on the amount passengers will have to pay for ride in Boom’s Overture aircraft, and this could be the chink in Boom’s finely crafted armour.

With business travel taking a backseat since the pandemic, and leisure tourism thriving, it remains to be seen whether supersonic aircraft can be the game-changer it promises for the aviation industry. Until then, those hoping for a return to the romance of flying supersonic remain unaffected.

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