When the last Concorde landed at Heathrow airport five years ago, people thought it would be the end of supersonic travel. But now, an American firm is confident a supersonic commercial aircraft can be back in the skies by 2015.
The Daily Mail is reporting that the Aerion Corporation is so sure that the new plane will fly that they have tests penciled in for 2012 and transatlantic testing to begin soon after that. It will reach speeds up to mach 1.6, so flight time between New York and London will be approximately three hours.
The Aerion Supersonic Jet will be priced at £47.5million ($73.5 million). Aerion chief spokesperson Jeff Miller claims that so far they have more than 50 letters of intent, each putting up a deposit of £150,000 ($232,762).
The supersonic jet age, according to some, was doomed when “jealous Americans…banned the plane from flying over U.S. territory at the speed of sound.” Aerion says that their plane can fly at mach 1.15 without emanating a sonic boom.
Miller said that this is possible because of a patented technology called the supersonic natural laminar flow that “substantially reduces drag at supersonic as well as high-subsonic cruise speeds.”
Aerion will first start building supersonic business jets. Later they plan to develop the technology and raise the capital needed to expand to Concorde-sized aircraft.
If Aerion can carry out their plans and maintain their timetable, supersonic travel may return within the next seven years.
