Inside ‘Son of Concorde’ jetliner that will whizz passengers across the Atlantic in under 4 hours
HUMANS may soon be flying from the UK to the US at unprecedented speeds, according to a new airline company.
Last week, mock-ups of a new high-speed airplane were released at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK.
The renderings were shared by American aviation company Boom Supersonic which has ambitions of developing both sustainable and supersonic flights.
Dubbed Overture, the airplane will be able to fly passengers from the United Kingdom to the United States in just 3.5 hours.
Many are referring to Overture as the ‘son of Concorde’ – a legendary aircraft that was introduced 51 years ago and retired in 2003.
“Aviation has not seen a giant leap in decades,” Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl said in a statement.
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“Overture is revolutionary in its design, and it will fundamentally change how we think about distance.”
Overture logistics
The jet features four engines, a new fuselage, and will be able to fly at supersonic speeds of up to 1304 miles per hour.
Specifically, the craft will cruise at Mach 1.7 over water and just under Mach 1 over land.
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Overture will also have fewer passenger seats than traditional aircraft – around 65-80 passengers.
More than 600 routes have been planned for Overture across the globe.
“Overture will make the world dramatically more accessible for tens of millions of passengers,” Scholl said.
Sustainability in mind
One way the plane’s design is unique is that it has been developed to emit net zero carbon, flying on 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
“Sustainability is woven into all aspects of Overture, from design and production to flight and end-of-life recycling,” Boom Supersonic said in a statement.
Army strong
The company also noted that it was partnering with contractor Northrop Grumman to develop military and emergency response aircraft.
This collaboration could “provide the US and our allies with an unmatched high-speed capability when and where it’s most needed,” Scholl noted.
He then specified areas of interest such as “quick-reaction surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, as well as mobility and logistics missions.”
When will the plane fly?
Boom Supersonic will begin building the plane in 2024, BBC reported on July 23.
However, it won’t carry its first official passengers until around 2029 or 2030.
Until then, Boom will first start by developing its ‘iron bird,’ skeleton, which will be used for testing flight components and systems, Victor Tangermann reported for Futurism.
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“So far, the company has only built a one-third-scale demonstrator called XB-1 that’s expected to be flight tested sometime this year,” Tangermann explained.
The testing and simulations will happen at Boom’s 70,000-square-foot facility in Centennial, Colorado.