Todos
← Back to Squawk list
London to NYC in just 3.4 hours? A roundtrip will set you back $5,000
Virgin Galactic to go where the Concorde failed, into commercial supersonic flight After more than a decade of dormancy commercial supersonic flight may soon return to the skies. The Soviet Tupolev supersonic aircraft flew just a few dozen flights back in 1977, and the Concorde, flown by British Airways and Air France, retired in 2003 after a fatal accident three years earlier that compounded economic problems. But now Richard Branson and his Virgin empire are ready to try it again. According to… (arstechnica.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
The second to the last paragraph is the key. Will these planes be allowed to operate over land anywhere in the world? The next, undiscussed issue is range. Will this plane do more that LHR / CDG to JFK / BOS / IAD / YUL? Maybe routes from the Gulf States to SIN / BKK are in reach, but land transit is involved. Time will tell, but how many investors will get behind this? Does Branson and Bezos have enough to bankroll the project?
The article states, "The Virgin Group spokeswoman said the partnership remains in its "early days," although Boom says it could begin test flights at the end of next year." Does anyone think it is possible that they could actually be test flying by that time? Not saying they can't, just asking.
They don't state how far they are into the design of this thing or if they have started bending metal yet, just seems rather ambitious.
They don't state how far they are into the design of this thing or if they have started bending metal yet, just seems rather ambitious.
I think test flights would be with the 1/3 scale prototype they've been working on. And that would be subsonic.
It's all economics. Were Concorde a moneymaker...we'd still be flying it. Best of luck to BOOM.
Boom sounds like one of those ironically unwise names, like when you call your dog "lucky" and have to keep fishing him out from around the axles of your neighbors' cars.
Sounds like a bargain and quicker too. Last time BClass on BAW was 11K PHX>Heathrow R/T.