THE “Son of Concorde” boss has revealed how much tickets will cost on a jet so fast that it will land in the US at the same time it leaves the UK.
Blake Scholl, 44, founder of Boom Supersonic and dubbed the Elon Musk of air travel, also detailed why he thought the original Concorde failed to take off globally.
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The boss promised that the breakthrough Boom Overture will be able to fly from London, Paris, Madrid or Berlin to New York before leaving Europe.
The ambitious tech boss told The Telegraph: “Whenever I watch the videos of Concorde’s last landing in 2003, it makes me want to cry.
“From the Wright brothers to Concorde, every generation of aeroplanes was faster but we’ve gone backwards.
“We’re living in the dark ages. The world needs supersonic flight.”
Scholl promised that passengers on his new jet will be blasted from London to New York City at Mach 1.7 in just 3.5 hours.
He also said the groundbreaking aircraft will also promise to slash the travel time of 600 global routes by as much as half.
It will be able to carry around 60 to 80 passengers between any cities on Earth, and will hopefully fly at 1,300mph over water.
A demonstrator for the firm, known as the XB-1 supersonic, has already completed 13 test flights and broken the sound barrier six times.
He said his successor to Concorde will “transform our lives, the way we meet people, do business, go on vacation”.
The jet, aptly dubbed the “Son of Concorde”, has no audible sonic boom.
A number of orders from the likes of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines have already been made for Boom Technology’s passenger jet model, Overture.
It comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June effectively lifting a 52-year ban on civil supersonic flight over land in the US.
And since Overture will be able to fly supersonic over land, the New York to San Francisco flight will only take four hours.
This will mean travellers can leave New York at 9am and land in California at about 10am local time.
Any two points on the globe will eventually be connected with super-fast flight, with a refuelling stop or two, the firm promised.
Scholl revealed that fares for each of the flights carrying 60 or more passengers will be set by airlines.
But he expects them to cost about £5,000 for a return from London to New York City.
He explained one of the reasons the original jet failed.
He said: “Concorde, with 100 seats and a near $20,000 ticket, made no sense, even on New York to London, the best possible route.
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“It flew half-empty. If it had been half the size, the fares would have been lower and it might have worked economically. That’s what we’re creating.”
He also said the Concorde did not prove to be successful as it was too heavy, too fuel-consuming, too uncomfortable and too pricey – all problems which Scholl promises to fix.
The Boom Supersonic founder also said that not being able to fly over land posed a significant challenge for the short-lived aircraft.
But the Don’s latest intervention has fixed this issue, Scholl explained.
A spokesperson for Boom previously told The Sun after Trump’s executive order: “While Boom is pleased to see the regulatory pathways to supersonic flight clearing, Boom’s business case has never been predicated on regulatory change.
“There are over 600 global routes that are economically viable for supersonic flight – even without going supersonic over land.
“Now that rules are being updated to allow boomless supersonic flight over land in the US, additional routes will benefit from speedups.”
They added: “Boom’s supersonic airliner, Overture, will fly transatlantic routes, such as New York to London, at its full cruising speed of Mach 1.7 over water – about twice as fast as today’s conventional airliners.
“Boomless Cruise enables Overture to fly at speeds up to Mach 1.3 over land without an audible boom – up to 50% faster than subsonic jets – reducing US coast-to-coast flight times by up to 90 minutes.”
The company also revealed that Overture “remains on target” to get certification from relevant bodies including the FAA by the end of the decade so it can carry passengers.
WHY DID CONCORDE FAIL?
CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel.
Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes on April 10, 2003.
The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, so was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights.
Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde.
Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs.
By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously.
The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly.
Passenger numbers also fell after an Air France Concorde crashed just minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000.
The disaster killed all 109 people on board and four others on the ground.
The plane ran over a small piece of metal on the runway, which burst a tyre and caused an engine to ignite.
It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer.
Image credit: Alamy
Bosses are aiming to roll out the first Overture in three years, and be flight testing in four.
To accomplish that, they expect production of the first aircraft in the “Superfactory” to start next year.
By the end of this year, they expect to produce thrust during fully-operational engine core tests for Overture’s bespoke engine, Symphony.
“Boom’s current order book accounts for the first five years of production at the Overture Superfactory in North Carolina,” the spokesperson added.
“Airlines have been very receptive to Overture and the competitive advantages of supersonic travel.
“In fact, the passenger research we have conducted indicates that 87 per cent of passengers are willing to switch from their preferred airline in order to gain access to supersonic travel.”
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