An aircraft worthy of the title “Son of Concorde” has moved one stage closer.
According to The Independent newspaper, Boom Supersonic has obtained funding of $100m (£79m) for the next stage of its project to create a commercial aircraft, known as Overture, planned to fly at more than twice the speed of sound, with a range of 5,180 miles.
A half-size prototype, known as XB-1, is set to fly later in 2019. The firm claims it is “history’s first independently developed supersonic jet and the fastest civil aircraft ever built."
Once the Boom Overture is in commercial service, routes such as London to Mumbai, Manchester to Dallas-Fort Worth and Edinburgh to Vancouver will take around four hours, better than half the time of conventional jets.
Virgin Atlantic has options for 10 of the aircraft. Sir Richard Branson's airline unsuccessfully fought for the right to keep Concorde flying.
The British Airways Concorde was restricted largely to supersonic journeys from London to New York, Washington and Barbados, with the last of those requiring a fuel stop in Ireland.
The project to build a viable supersonic transport (SST) is aiming for a cabin barely half the size of Concorde: just 55 seats, compared with 100 on the Anglo-French jet.
But the three-engine Boom aircraft will fly further, more economically and less noisily, with a sonic boom at least 30 times quieter than Concorde.
