A SUPERSONIC jet capable of going from Sydney to LA in less than seven hours has received $A43 million funding, which will kickstart the building of the world’s fastest passenger plane.
The XB-1- dubbed the “baby boom” — is backed by a host of wealthy tech bosses, astronauts and engineers and is tipped to be faster and more efficient than Concorde.
The Sun reports the passenger jet could get you from Tokyo to San Francisco in five hours. Seats will cost the same as major airlines’ business class tickets – but budget tickets could be on the cards as well, according to Boom Supersonic boss Blake Scholl.
Scholl said the jet, which will cost more than $A262 million to build, could be carrying passengers by the early 2020s.
Announcing the funding on Wednesday, he said: “Now we have all the pieces we need – technology, suppliers and capital – to go out and make some history and set some speed records.”
The XB-1 will fly higher than other aircraft at around 60,000ft. It will break the sound barrier; passengers won’t hear a thing.
Concorde failed to make enough cash to keep its engines running and was put out to pasture in 2003.
Air France and British Airways cited rising maintenance costs and low passenger numbers following a crash in 2000, which killed all 100 passengers and nine crew members, as the reason for closing shop.
It took until February of this year for the BA jet to be moved to a museum after languishing on the runway for 14 years.
HOW FAST WILL THE BOOM SUPERSONIC JET TRAVEL?
The XD-1 will break the speed of sound, travelling at 60,000ft above the Earth.
It claims that it will be able to shave half the typical flight time off popular routes.
That means you could have a date in Sydney and be in bed in LA with a 6.45 flight time.London to New York becomes a day trip at just 3.15 hour flight time.
You could even have lunch in Tokyo and dinner in San Francisco with just five-and-a-half hour flight.
Online Source: The News
