Why we still don t have another Concorde?

It was that the economics didn't work. It was simply too expensive for enough people to afford to fly. Narrator: That's because fuel was pricey, and almost 22 hours of maintenance was required for every hour in the air.



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The power, or volume, of the shock wave depends on the quantity of air that is being accelerated, and thus the size and shape of the aircraft. As the aircraft increases speed the shock cone gets tighter around the craft and becomes weaker to the point that at very high speeds and altitudes no boom is heard.

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The valid reasons are concerns over sonic boom, fuel economy, and market demand – with the last one being the primary driver. If there are not enough customers buying the planes, companies won't be able to recover their R&D costs or make a profit. That is reasonable.

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In any case, supersonic air travel for the masses looks like it's genuinely back on the cards. Boom is aiming for the first Overture test flights to take off in 2026 and for the planes to go into public service by 2029.

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Fifty years ago, the federal government banned all civilian supersonic flights over land. The rule prohibits non-military aircraft from flying faster than sound so their resulting sonic booms won't startle the public below or concern them about potential property damage.

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For example, the speed of sound at 30,000 feet is about 670 miles per hour, but an aircraft must travel at least 750 miles per hour (Mach 1.12, where Mach 1 equals the speed of sound) for a boom to be heard on the ground.

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Boom Supersonic's Overture plane is slated to roll out in 2025, fly in 2026 and expected to carry passengers by 2029. Capable of flying at speeds of Mach 1.7 – twice the speed of today's fastest airliners – Overture will be able to connect more than 500 destinations in nearly half the time.

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Such speed didn't come cheap, though: A transatlantic flight required the high-maintenance aircraft to gulp jet fuel at the rate of one ton per seat, and the average round-trip price was $12,000.

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No manufacturer has yet been able to recreate the days of the Concorde, but some are trying. Denver-based Boom Supersonic is leading the pack with its faster-than-sound Overture jet, already securing over 100 orders from United Airlines, Japan Airlines, and American Airlines.

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Concorde used the most powerful pure jet engines flying commercially. The Aircraft's four engines took advantage of what is known as 'reheat' technology, adding fuel to the final stage of the engine, which produced the extra power required for take-off and the transition to supersonic flight.

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Supercharged: Concorde was the first -- and still only -- passenger aircraft that had turbojet engines with afterburners. Raw fuel was introduced into the exhaust of the plane's four engines, immediately increasing the engines' thrust by almost 20%.

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Top 10 Fastest Fighter Jets in the world
  • NASA/USAF X-15 - Mach 6.72 (4,520 mph)
  • SR-71 Blackbird - Mach 3.4 (2,500 mph+)
  • Lockheed YF-12 - Mach 3.2 (2,275 mph)
  • MiG-25 Foxbat - Mach 3.2 (2,190 mph)
  • Bell X-2 Starbuster - Mach 3.2 (2,094 mph)
  • XB-70 Valkyrie - Mach 3.02 (2,056 mph)
  • MiG-31 Foxhound - Mach 2.83 (1,864 mph)


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Using this formula, the approximate speed of sound at 20° Celsius (68° Fahrenheit) is: 344 meters per second (m/s) 1128 feet per second (f/s) 770 miles per hour (mph)

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This path is known as the “boom carpet. If you're WONDERing about how pilots handle sonic booms, they actually don't hear them. They can see the pressure waves around the plane, but people on board the airplane can't hear the sonic boom. Like the wake of a ship, the boom carpet unrolls behind the airplane.

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Spike Aerospace, founded in 2013 Max Kachoria of NASA, built an 18-passenger supersonic jet with low-sonic boom, fuel efficiency, speeds up to 1,100 mph, and flight times slashed in half. Their current model is the S-512 which can get passengers to cities in a moment's notice: NYC to London: 3 hours.

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The Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet is planned to go into production in 2023. The supersonic AS2 promises a range of 4,200 nautical miles at Mach 1.4, or over 1,000 miles per hour.

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The wings of a 747 are nowhere near strong enough to mount an engine capable of supersonic flight. Generally, engines used in aircraft like the Concorde or the F-22 are skinny and long. They also weigh quite a fair amount, further requiring a complete overhaul of the way the engines would be supported.

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