‘Son of Concorde' jet that could fly from London to NYC in 3.5 hours steps closer to reality as major ban is lifted
"Son of Concorde" maker
4
Boom managed its first supersonic flight in January
Credit: Boom Supersonic
4
Company is now making supersonic airplanes for everyday passengers
Credit: Boom Supersonic
4
Tight restrictions on supersonic flights have been in place due to the loud sonic boom created by the shock waves from a flying object travelling faster than the speed of sound.
"America once led the world in supersonic aviation, but decades of stifling regulations grounded progress," the White House said.
"This Order removes regulatory barriers so that U.S. companies can dominate supersonic flight once again."
To hit supersonic speeds, an airplane needs to travel at 768 miles per hour.
Read more about flying
But Boom Technology has been working on a jet that has no audible sonic boom.
The firm managed to make its XB-1 test jet fly faster than the speed of sound for the first time in January this year.
Writing on X, the company welcomed the latest move, saying: "Thank you, President Trump, for unlocking the future of faster and quieter travel.
"This presidential action comes after a bipartisan group of key Congressional leaders introduced the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act on May 14, 2025.
Most read in Tech
"The legislation calls on the FAA to revise the regulation prohibiting supersonic flight over land."
After finishing tests with XB-1 in January, Boom is now focused on building a plane suitable for passengers called Overture.
Boom 'son of Concorde' flies supersonic for first time
Some 130 aircraft pre-orders have already been made by the likes of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines.
The executive order does come with a set of rules that the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been directed to impose.
An interim "noise-based certification standard" must be established that considers "community acceptability, economic reasonableness, and technological feasibility".
Why did the Concorde fail?
CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel.
Air France and British Airways announced they would be
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
The disaster
The plane ran over a small
It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer.
Image credit: Alamy
Trump was presented with a miniature model of Overture earlier this year from Boom Technology's CEO.
He suggested that Boom should manufacture Air Force One - the President's personal plane - and made a dig at China President
"Air Fore Once should be supersonic. Xi [President of China] can keep his 747-8," he wrote.
4
Trump posed with a miniature model of Boom Technology's Overture jet
Credit: x/bscholl
Supersonic and Hypersonic Jets
There are several types of hypersonic and supersonic jets. A breakdown of what's been happening in the industry and what's expected in the coming years.
Talon-A
Built by Stratolaunch
Reported speeds of Mach 5
The first test flight conducted in 2024
Built by Nasa and Lockheed Martin
Predicted max speeds of Mach 1.4
The first test flight in 2024 - but subject to delays
Built by Venus Aerospace and Velontra
Predicted max speeds of Mach 6
First test flight in 2025
Built by Hermeus
Predicted max speeds of Mach 2.5
First test flight in 2026
Built by Hermeus
Predicted max speeds of Mach 5
First test flight by 2030
Built by China's hypersonic plane programme
Predicted max speeds of Mach 6
First test flight in 2025
Built by Hypersonix Launch Systems
Predicted max speeds of Mach 7
First test flight in 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
It's official: Affordable British seaside town has one of the UK's best ice cream parlours
ONE of the best seaside towns in the UK is home to a very popular ice cream parlour. 5 Harbour Bar is a popular ice cream spot in Scarborough Credit: Alamy 5 The inside is like stepping back in time to the 1950s Credit: Alamy Harbour Bar is found by the seafront on the road leading to the West Pier, and is kitted out with 1950s American-style decor. It has unmissable red lettering, a diner looking bar with red booths and stools. You can pick up tall ice cream sundaes from Bananarama, to Eton Mess, Chocolata and Mandarino. The Harbour Bar is known for its 'Mega Cones' - which are a lot longer than your average ice cream cone. Read More on Seaside Towns They also serve toasted waffles topped with a range of ice cream and fruit. As for drinks, it has a selection of soda floats and milk shakes. Harbour Bar was established in 1945 and has remained a family-owned business ever since. Another reason as to why it's such a good parlour is that the ice cream isn't bought in, it's churned in a small factory behind the shop. Good Food described the ice cream parlour as being "big and brash, but hugely fun and buzzy." Most read in Beach holidays One visitor on "We decided on a Knickerbocker glory and the Pear Valentino both were excellent and we loved it. So we can definitely highly recommend this place and you MUST visit it when you come to Scarborough 10/10." Weston Hotel: Scarborough's Coastal Gem 5 There are lots of choices from a banana split to milkshakes Credit: Alamy 5 The parlous is known for it's huge 'Mega Cone' ice creams Credit: Tripadvisor In April, The town has even been called 'Scarbados' thanks to two very long stretches of sandy beaches called North and South Bay. Vincent's Pier is the longest in Scarborough and has a lookout, cafe, and restaurant. It's a great place to visit with affordable cafes like Seastrand which is inside the oldest Travel Reporter Helen Wright visited and found you can get a cup of tea and a flapjack for £3.50 - and she discovered the best spots for cheap parking. There's lots still to come for Scarborough, including the possible construction of an If approved, the pool would have sand running into it and a sheltered beach and bathing area for children. Here are And the cheap UK seaside towns – where a day out for the whole family costs from just £25. Top 20 Ice Cream Parlours in the UK These are Good Food's top 20 ice cream parlours in the UK... Jack's Gelato, Cambridge Gelato Gusto, Brighton Moomaid of Zennor, St Ives Morelli's, Broadstairs Swoon, Cardiff Alandas Gelato, Edinburgh Morelli's, Belfast Caliendo's Gelato, London Darlish, St Albans and Hatfield Ginger's Comfort Emporium, Manchester Joe's Ice cream, Swansea (and other locations) Snugburys, Cheshire Jolly Nice, Gloucestershire Cadwaladers, Cardiff (and other locations) Ruby Violet, London Harbour Bar, Scarborough Gelupo, London Krum Gelato, Chester The Little Ice Cream Shop, Cumbria Romeo & Giulietta, London 5 Scarborough is popular spot for holidaymakers - and has delicious ice creams Credit: Alamy
The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
I tested a food waste app for a week – it cost half as much as my usual shop but there was a big downside
I TRIED to survive off nearly-scrapped meals for a week through a food wastage scheme offering wonky veg and restaurant leftovers at bargain prices. The app definitely saved me money - but there was a big downside. Advertisement 5 From the first £4 box I managed to whip up a Moroccan-style cous cous and spicy tomato salsa Here's how it works... You open the Too Good To Go app and set the location radius from between 1km and 30km to scout out the options in your area. There are establishments offering meals and groceries, as well as bakeries and shops selling breads and pastries. Each shop will have a surprise bag (or box) of surplus goods that are about to go off, and will set a pick-up window for collection. Advertisement You won't know what you've got until you open your bag - which is all part of the fun, but can be quite annoying as I learned. Even with the same shop, what you get will change with each order on a daily basis. What you receive depends on what is left over at the end of the day, although the app does tell you what you can expect as a rough guide. Days 1 & 2: A box of limp veg Day one and my first problem arose - trying to find a Too Good To Go option that I could pick up outside of my working hours. Fortunately, I found a £4 surprise bag from Petit Village, a nearby green grocers roughly a 15 minute walk from my house. Advertisement It was the last one left, and had a decent collection time between 12pm and 6pm. From worm bread to mealworm kebabs... could eating bugs and insects in everyday food be the future? I dashed off after to work to go collect my bounty. While some establishments will need to cook or pack your food once you arrive to collect your order, others - like Petit Village - will have your surprise bag ready and waiting. I showed the man behind the counter my collection code, and confirmed in the app that I was collecting, before being handed a crate full of vegetables. I got a bag of cherry tomatoes, three larger tomatoes, two avocados, a head of lettuce, a green pepper, four red chillies, seven carrots and a fistful of beets. Advertisement Now, these vegetables were pretty limp, one of the avocados was squishy, some of the carrots were bendy and the lettuce had certainly seen better days. But that's the whole point, right? They were all edible (apart from a funky-looking carrot I composted). And as another example of technological brilliance (or laziness) I used ChatGPT to conjure meals with those exact ingredients. You can do the same, with my prompt: "Please give me five recipe ideas using at least four of the following ingredients..." and then list your produce. Advertisement You can even throw in a few bits you might already have in your cupboard - like pasta or cous cous, or some stuff lurking in the freezer. All the options sounded great, and I reworked a roasted vegetable salad suggestion into a Moroccan-style cous cous, and whipped up a spicy tomato salsa and guacamole to have with some chips. The lettuce went into a salad along with the second avocado and some more cherry tomatoes on Day 2, which paired nicely with a fishcake I had in the freezer. When it comes to making meals with surplus goods - time is of the essence. You don't have long until these veg are deemed inedible. Advertisement That's when I start looking for my next meal... 5 Days 3 and 4: Monster lasagna At this point, my box of veg is running low - and it's all getting too limp for my liking. The night before, I tapped 'buy' on a £3.99 surprise bag from The Laundry, a popular restaurant in London's Brixton that is a two minute walk from a friend's flat. It's a lovely restaurant that my friend and I have been meaning to try for a while - where a main costs between £18 and £26. Advertisement So, £3.99 is a steal - and the generous portion of lasagne with a side of carrots and roasted butternut squash tasted really good. It even had a decent collection slot of between 10am and 11:40am - which I could dash out to as I wasn't working that day. This was my lunch on Day 3, and even on Day 4 - the portion really was of monster proportions. One surprise box from this place could honestly feed two! WHAT OPTIONS ARE THERE? There are all kinds of shops, bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and supermarkets giving food away for cheap on the Too Good To Go app. Shops include: Aldi, Morrisons, Co-op, Budgens, Londis, Nisa and even M&S. Restaurants and cafes include: Greggs, Pizza Express, Fireaway, Costa, Starbucks, Pret, Cafe Nero, Gail's, Yo Sushi, Carluccios, Harvester, Toby Carvery and more. Some train stations even have options. Plus, there are tons of independent cafes, restaurants, bakeries and delis if you want to try something new without breaking the bank. You will have more options in large towns and cities, like London. Although some quieter parts of the capital do seem a bit short of choice. Smaller places and villages might not have any retailers listed - and when they do, you could have some competition. 5 Advertisement Days 4 and 5: Mid Mediterranean Now even though I have lunch lined up for Day 4 - I need to be alert to what my options are for the rest of the day. All the best deals get snapped up quick. So on a hot day, I opted for a £5.20 surprise bag from Paella Street, a stall at Tabard Street Food Market, just a 10 minute walk from the office. It was supposed to be a post-lunchtime deal, and gave me the smallest collection window I had encountered yet: between 2pm and 2:15pm. I received two very sweaty boxes of vegan paella - which wouldn't have cost much more to have fresh. Advertisement And to be honest, the state of them left me Googling how to revive old paella. However, once successfully revived on the hob at home, just one box of the two made a very nice dinner. The other I stuck in the freezer for a rainy day. 5 It also helps to check the app the night before you want to pick up the food Credit: Too Good To Go Day 6: Out of options At this point, I'm running out of options. Advertisement I have a choice to make: eat baked goods for dinner (not ideal), or wait until 10pm to collect a meal suitable enough for tea (also not ideal). This is where I had to draw the line and go to an actual supermarket. But it taught me an important lesson about the best time to buy surprise goodies on Too Good To Go. BEST TIME TO BUY The price of some surprise bags drops as the collection time approaches - these are the establishments with a 'dynamic pricing' tag on them. The Too Good To Go app will adjust the discount level on surprise bags based on in-app behaviour - to try and tempt people to snag food that would otherwise go to waste. It also helps to check the app the night before you want to pick up the food. While the prices may be slightly more expensive, you'll be able to actually get what you want - i.e. groceries over baked goods (or vice versa) - and at decent collection times. But ultimately, you'll have to go when you can. The verdict I have spent a total of £13.19 in five days, over three payments. That's about £4.40 on average - nearly half what I would usually spend on eating per day. Advertisement I usually spend around £170 a month on groceries, across an average of 19 transactions - which is nearly £9 on average every time I go to the shops. So it does work out cheaper - but is it worth it? Pros: Good variety of food Pushes you out of your comfort zone Great if you can be spontaneous Even better if you use to supplement a slightly smaller weekly shop Cheap way to try local restaurants Reduces food waste Cons: Often inconvenient in terms of collection hours or location Not good for people with allergies or dietary requirements 5 It works out cheaper - and the pros outweigh the cons Credit: Getty Advertisement
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Government pushing for key sectors to be exempt from Donald Trump's planned 10pc tariffs
It is now exactly a week to the July 9 deadline set by US president Donald Trump, after which he has threatened to slap a 50pc tariff on imports from the EU. Mr Burke said the Government does want a trade deal to be in place by July 9, rather than the deadline being extended, because 'we don't want any uncertainty to continue'. He has also pointed out that there is another deadline – of July 14 – when the European Commission has threatened to hit back with tariffs on some US imports. It is now expected that a headline or framework deal will be agreed by the deadline, with talks continuing afterwards about the precise details. Mr Trump's administration seems to be insisting on a 10pc baseline tariff, and the focus for Ireland and other EU states is to get a zero-for-zero exemption for some sectors. 'We're very keen to get a carve-out in key sectors that are centrally important to the Irish economy and indeed the European economy,' Mr Burke told a press conference in Dublin. 'We have aircraft leasing here, which is a significant component of the global marketplace. About 65pc of all aircraft leased is through Ireland. 'We have a very important life sciences sector, which is again key to, and strategic, to the resilience of Europe. So we're looking at key sectors like that, to see if we can get a landing zone on those areas.' The minister said he is 'hopeful rather than confident' about a positive outcome, and pointed out that July 9 is the deadline set by Mr Trump for the conclusion of talks on trade deals with a number of countries. He said this posed a 'huge challenge' to the US administration itself, 'in terms of the bandwidth, to be dealing with so many moving parts'. Asked if a baseline 10pc tariff and carve-outs for key sectors would now represent a "win' for Ireland, given Mr Trump's threat to impose 50pc levies, Mr Burke said he didn't see any tariff as a win. 'What it would mean for our agri-food sector is 10pc on top of existing tariffs in many of those key areas. We need to see what a new 10pc would mean – if your margin is 6pc, 7pc, 8pc, where does a 10pc tariff leave you? It is a huge concern still. 'Tariffs are bad. They constrain supply, cause supply-chain shortages and, in essence, make goods more expensive for consumers in both countries. That's not a good position to be in.' The Enterprise Minister said the US negotiators seem to want a quota system, so that America is able to export a certain amount of their key products to Europe, such as cars and beef. He also indicated that final arrangements will not be put in place by July 9. 'There's a lot of concerns in relation to how much of an actual trade deal it is,' he said. 'It's more of a framework for the establishment of further negotiations.' Mr Burke said the agri-food and drinks sectors were very much on his mind as the trade talks continue. 'Distilleries are going through a huge amount of uncertainty. Right now they have a huge amount of premium product in the US, and margins are significantly under pressure. That's a big concern to the government and we're working through our partners in Europe in connection with them, particularly in relation to counter measures.' The EU is being represented at the talks by Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who is due to meet tomorrow with his US counterparts Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer. He will then brief EU governments on Friday.
