THE dream of flying from London to New York City in 60 minutes in a plane that can hit 4,000mph has been dashed after a British hypersonic aviation firm crashed into administration.
Reaction Engine was previously in talks with Whitehall and other shareholders to secure a £20m lifeline amid mounting losses and slow revenue growth.
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However, a conversation with potential backers failed to result in any rescue deals after Rolls-Royce Holdings and BAE Systems, two strategic shareholders, were unwilling to bail the company out.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were named as administrators as they slashed 173 workers from the company’s 208 staff, according to Sky News.
In a statement on Thursday, Sarah O’Toole, joint administrator and partner, PwC, said: “It’s with great sadness that a pioneering company with a 35-year history of spearheading aerospace innovation has unfortunately been unable to raise the funding required to continue operations.
“We know this is a deeply uncertain and unsettling time for the Company’s talented and dedicated employees.
“We are committed to providing them with all the necessary support at this time.”
She added: The company has primarily been funded by grants and equity fundraises, given its R&D focus.
“The company had been pursuing opportunities to raise further funds, but unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful.
“Consequently, the directors have been left with no alternative but to place the company into administration.”
According to PwC, the remaining Reaction Engines’ employees will be retained temporarily at its Oxfordshire base to complete several existing orders and wind down operations.
Reaction Engine had previously hoped its hybrid jet-rocket engine could one day enable a new era of hypersonic flight, dubbed the “Son of Concorde”
Reaction had previously insisted their engines, dubbed Sabre, were well into development.
A previous aviation test had run at the equivalent of five times the speed of sound at its test facility at the Colorado Air and Space Port outside of Denver, igniting hopes for a hypersonic plane.
Richard Varvill, Reaction Engines’ co-founder previously said in a statement that the latest test was a “momentous landmark.”
He said: “The performance of our proprietary precooler technology was validated at hypersonic flight conditions and takes us closer to realising our objective of developing the first air-breathing engine capable of accelerating from zero to Mach 5.”
Reaction, which was founded in 1989, is building “Sabre”, short for Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine, a new design that combines a conventional jet with a rocket.
While Reaction Engine’s hopes have been dashed, there is is still strong competition for aviation companies to build the next “Son of Concorde”.
Boom Technology’s Overture promises to cruise twice as fast as a regular plane and offers luxurious travel with prices that rival business class on a Boeing 777.
Test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg claims the airliner will do miles better than the Concorde, its predecessor that paved the way for supersonic travel.
The XB-1 plane is being used for the test flights before Boom unveils the actual aircraft set to be used in the future known as the Overture.
The XB-1 was inspired by the 1969 Concorde which flew passengers from New York to London in under three hours at Mach 2 (around 1,345 mph).
If tests are successful a supersonic airliner carrying between 64 and 80 passengers could be available from 2029.
Creators want the aircraft to reach Mach 1.7 (around 1,300 mph).
The XB-1, which has a range of 4,250 miles, achieved its fastest speed yet on October 7.
Chief test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg took the aircraft out for its fifth spin from the XB-1 from Mojave Air and Space Port.
Geppetto flew the jet 17,800 feet into the sky pushing it as fast as Mach 0.69 (around 492 mph).
While he’s “never been scared in a plane”, Geppetto admitted he’d faced some nerve-racking flights in the past but described the thrill of piloting the XB-1.
“The first time I went to land on an aircraft carrier, I had a hard time sleeping that night, and I also got nervous for some of the important flights for my qualifications,” he said.
“Interestingly though, I wasn’t really that nervous for the flights in the XB-1. I knew the team I was working with, I knew the air.
“I know this aeroplane better than any aeroplane I’ve ever flown.”
Although the Overture will mostly fly over water, its noise reduction design will reduce sonic booms, which contributed to the end of Concorde in 2003.
A short history of the Concorde
THE CONCORDE was the first supersonic passenger-carrying luxury airplane.
Two decades ago the Concorde took its first-ever flight.
It became supersonic in 1969, flying passengers from New York to London in less than three hours.
It was the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer.
Concorde needed unsustainable amounts of fuel and created very loud sonic booms.
Then, in July 2000, a horror accident saw 113 people killed when an Air France Concorde ran over a small piece of metal while taking off from Charles de Gaulle Airport.
It caused the tyre to explode and the engine to ignite.
A year after the horrific crash, 9/11 majorly affected passenger numbers.
Ultimately a combination of these events led to its downfall.
By 2003, Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes
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