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If you’re looking to travel across the pond in a hurry, you might be in luck sooner than later…and we’ll tell you about that in just a minute…
But first, let’s get some background. On February 7, 1996, the Concorde hypersonic jet made the journey from JFK to Heathrow airports in just 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds. Unfortunately, that plane shut down and made its last flight on October 24, 2003.
But now…people apparently want that speed back.
An airline company called Boom Supersonic is touting a design for a new aircraft that it hopes will be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean from New York to London in only three-and-a-half hours.
The company hopes the Overture will be the first economically and environmentally sustainable supersonic plane in the world.
The plane hasn’t been built yet but the model is the result of millions of hours of simulated software designs, dozens of evaluations, and multiple wind tunnel tests.
The plan calls for the Overture to carry between 65 and 80 passengers and that it would fly at twice the speed of today’s major airliners.
The famous Concorde jet flew at supersonic speeds between 1976 and 2003 until it was halted because of low demand, high costs, and multiple accidents.
But the folks at Boom Supersonic think the time is right for a return to flying commercially at supersonic speed. One big difference from the Concorde is that the Overture was designed specifically to be environmentally friendly.
Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, said, “Aviation has not seen a giant leap in decades.Overture is revolutionary in its design, and it will fundamentally change how we think about distance.”
The company has secured $60 million in funding through a 3-year partnership with the U.S. Air Force and they hope to start production in their factory in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2024.
Let’s hope this bird gets off the ground!
