BOOM OR BUST

With the emergence of a new airline promising supersonic air travel, 22 years since Concorde last took to the skies, Simon Calder ponders the likely environmental impact

- Simon Calder

It was 50 years ago today that Concorde first flew paying passengers: British Airways flight 300 from London Heathrow to Bahrain on 21 January 1976 marked the start of a 27-year career for the supersonic jet. Both BA and Air France grounded their Concorde fleets in 2003.

Boom Supersonic plans to bring back flying at around twice the speed of conventional aircraft in the shape of Overture. The aim of the plane is to fly up to 80 passengers at Mach 1.7: nearly twice the speed of sound, but slower than Concorde.

Founder and CEO Blake Scholl told The Independent: “We’re aiming to pick up where Concorde left off.”

Yet there are strong environmental arguments against reintroducing supersonic flight – articulated by Anna Hughes, director of Flight Free UK.

“There’s no denying that in the 1960s and 70s, developing something like Concorde was incredibly exciting and impressive”, she told The Independent’s daily travel podcast. “But now we’re 50 years on. The world has changed, and we’re now aware of what that type of travel does. Knowing that, we can choose not to do it. Maybe now we can leave it in the past.”