We're feeling supersonic... again

Concorde’s retirement in 2003 marked the end of luxury jet travel for the vast majority. And things have hardly improved since. But new developments in faster-than-sound flight could revolutionise passenger transport. JOSH WHITE reports...

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TWAS the airborne modern marvel of a golden age of travel. When Concorde first took to the skies in 1969, it quickly became a symbol of speed, luxury and Anglo-French engineering prowess. Celebrities and businessmen, plus the lucky ordinary few who nabbed occasional discounted tickets, enjoyed a white-glove service with gourmet meals and free-flowing champagne, while crossing the Atlantic on a needle-like nose in under four hours — half the time of a conventional airliner.

No wonder the world misses supersonic travel.

But that may soon all be about to change. Two decades since the final fleet of Concordes was retired, entrepreneurs and engineers are in an accelerated race to reboot super-speed travel — and the early signs look good.

This week, NASA made the final preparations for the maiden flight of its Lockheed Martin X-59 jet, designed to fly at 1.4 times the speed of sound — but, crucially, while delivering a quiet “thump” instead of a boom.

The data gathered will inform US and international regulators of newly established noise thresholds to help pave the return of faster commercial flights across the world.

Elsewhere, a new crop of tech innovators, itching to help passengers fly not just faster, but quieter, greener and (hopefully) more affordably, are making serious moves.

It’s a development that not only Concorde fans are watching with eager anticipation. Since the fleet’s retirement on November 26, 2003, waved off by a crowd of cheering well-wishers at Heathrow Airport, air travel has changed dramatically, but not for the better. Flights these days are a grim chore to be endured, unless you rank among the super-wealthy elite, whether that’s due to the “premium carriers” (naming no names) or the aggressive surcharges of budget brands.

So who is leading the charge on this second wave of supersonic travel? Step forward 44-year-old American tech entrepreneur Blake Scholl.