Could supersonic air travel make a comeback?
Boom’s first test flight could signal the return of supersonic air travel
Submitted 7 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.zip
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/22/24108850/boom-supersonic-first-test-flight-xb1-demonstrator
Technofrood@feddit.uk 7 months ago
I mean as much as I like the Concorde, I really don’t see commercial supersonic flights being a major success, it might be of some use on certain long fight routes that are mostly over water.
But it’s going to have the same problems that were the nails in the coffin for Concorde, too noisy to fly over populated areas, high running/maintenance costs, low passenger capacity and reasonably small market.
Given the rise of the internet there’s even less need to just pop over to the US and back for the day which was some of the market for Concorde. The environmental impact of a commercial supersonic aircraft would also be under significant pressure. A lot of the current improvement in jet engines for commercial flight has been how to make them more efficient.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
As someone with an interest in the technology involved in this stuff: it’s a LOT more viable today than it was 60 years ago. Today, you have:
There is a TON of technology and innovation that’s coming together recently to make supersonic transport an actual viable thing. For the record, it wasn’t a viable thing when the Concorde was doing it. That was basically a national pride project between the UK and France.