
‘Son of Concorde' bosses reveal over 600 routes could see flight times HALVED including 3.5-hour trips from UK to US
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
MAKERS of a supersonic plane have revealed there are more than 600 global routes where Concorde-style speedy flights could slash flying times by as much as half.
And a 3.5 hour trip between the UK and US is "absolutely" possible, the company told The Sun.
2
2
The "Son of Concorde" reached supersonic speeds in January
Credit: Boom Technology
Boom Technology has been testing its XB-1 test jet which managed to fly faster than the speed of sound in January.
One of the hurdles they've overcome from supersonic flying is the sound.
The firm's 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.
Read more about flights
SPEED OF SOUND 'Son of Concorde' test pilot reveals update on jet's first supersonic flight
President Trump recently signed an executive order effectively lifting a 52-year ban on civil supersonic flight over land in the US.
"While Boom is pleased to see the regulatory pathways to supersonic flight clearing, Boom's business case has never been predicated on regulatory change," a spokesperson for Boom told The Sun.
"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.
"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.
I'm a Boom supersonic test pilot - my day job is testing a new generation of Concordes
"International routes with overland segments can also benefit from increased speeds."
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.
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.
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
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% of passengers are willing to switch from their preferred airline in order to gain access to supersonic travel."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
EU and US must work ‘intensively' to get tariff deal before deadline
The Trump administration said it has pushed back a deadline for tariffs to come into place to August 1. The White House confirmed that US president Donald Trump would be delaying an increase to the baseline 10% tariff rate to next month. Countries had been working to a Wednesday deadline to make a new deal with the Trump administration. Irish deputy premier Simon Harris said the pause is a 'clear indication' that President Trump understands the need to have a trade deal in place. 'We are far too interdependent not to have one. Every single day, more than four billion euro worth of goods and services are traded across the Atlantic Ocean,' Mr Harris said on Tuesday. 'We need to work now intensively to get an agreement ideally in advance of August 1, because we've been consistent in Ireland. 'The more quickly we can bring certainty, the better that is for jobs, and the better that is for investment, the better that is for economic sentiment. 'I do want to flag I am concerned in relation to the issue of pharma. I think there's a lot of work to be done here in relation to pharma. We obviously have a very big pharma sector in this country. 'We've been a very good home to the pharma industry. They need access to the European Union, a market of more than 460 million people. 'In my conversations with the Trump administration, with Secretary (Howard) Lutnick, I've made this point that there is a way forward that could be good for the EU and good for the US and pharma.' Mr Harris said that while it is 'disappointing' no trade agreement has been reached, the decision by President Trump shows he is up for making a deal. He said he wants to see zero-for-zero tariffs in as many areas as possible. He added: 'In all my conversations with European counterparts and my conversations with the US administration, I know there are very, very intense talks under way to get to a point of agreement. 'We need to get as many carve outs, I think, in terms of zero for zero in as many areas as possible, and particularly from an Irish perspective, but also from an European economic perspective, we need to see a lot more engagement and clarity around pharma.' Irish premier Micheal Martin said he is 'hopeful' the EU and the US will reach a landing zone before the deadline passes. Speaking outside Government Buildings in Dublin, Mr Martin said: 'First of all, we don't want tariffs, but the United States clearly have issues. 'I welcome the fact that there's a pause in respect of the European Union, and clearly the European Union, as I suggested when I spoke to President (Ursula) von der Leyen, the European Union is on track for a framework agreement with the United States. 'Others are not, apparently. Others would have received letters, I think, imposing 25% tariffs. I would hope that we can get a landing zone between the United States and the European Union, because the trade between the two is enormous, and any failure to get a headline agreement would have, I think, a disruptive impact on the markets and on the manufacturers of goods in particular. 'What it suggests really is that there was substantial negotiations on the way, have happened between the US and the EU. They're not there yet, and we're not there yet, but I think there's a prospect that we could be there by August 1.'


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Does Elon Musk's new political party need its own Donald Trump?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week in tech news, Elon Musk and Donald Trump are back at it, warring over the passage of the president's sweeping tax bill and the Tesla CEO's threat to create a third political party. Whether the richest person in the world is successful in those efforts will largely depend on the recruitment of another star politician. In other news, we want to know if you use generative artificial intelligence to write your personal messages – in what circumstances, and how often? Email to let us know. Elon Musk and Donald Trump have reignited their feud after the passage of the president's sweeping tax bill on 3 July. Musk has been campaigning (tweeting) against the 'abomination' of legislation for weeks, which passed in spite of him. Division over the bill was the cause of their initial breakup in early June. Musk has threatened to start a new centrist political party, and over the weekend, he made signs that he would follow through on his ultimatums to create 'The America Party'. Trump responded with a lengthy post on Truth Social calling Musk a 'TRAIN WRECK' that had gone 'off the rails' and saying that third parties had never succeeded in the US, so Musk's idea was 'ridiculous'. Tesla's share price fell sharply in response to the news. What would Musk's America party do besides troll Democrats and Republicans? Likely try to primary Republicans who voted for the bill. From my colleague Ramon Antonio Vargas: The new party that Elon Musk has boasted about bankrolling could initially focus on a handful of attainable House and Senate seats while striving to be the decisive vote on major issues amid the thin margins in Congress. Musk tweeted that one way to achieve his political goals would be to 'laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts'. Would Musk himself become a candidate? Unlikely. He has promised to return his focus to his many companies, though his most recent tweets indicate otherwise. What Musk needs to make his part a reality is another Donald Trump, a superstar aligned with him whom he can douse with money. His function in politics is that of an ATM The Wisconsin supreme court election in early April demonstrated that Musk himself is not personally popular. After appearing on stage and handing out million-dollar checks, he watched his preferred candidate lose handily. His function in politics is that of an ATM. He is, after all, the richest person in the world, even though Tesla's market capitalization has taken a beating since he appeared in Washington. Since Musk himself is an ineffective electioneer, the success of his new political party will depend on an undeniable star like Trump, another titanic force. He needs a conduit who can channel his donations into a charming and effective campaign. So far, there doesn't seem to be one. Trump's grip on the Republican party is tight, and he runs an operation that enacts swift and pitiless retribution on anyone who expresses enough disloyalty, including Musk. The risk of defecting from Trump's party and joining Musk's quixotic centrist quest is high. The only people who do want to see a new party form are the chaos-hungry voters on X, who told Musk by a considerable margin in a poll last week he ran that he should do it. Few of them, if any, are running for office, though. I suspect they just want the most fractious outcome, which may become our collective fate. A moment of odd and coincidental timing: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, picked this weekend to say that he feels 'politically homeless'. Musk has given the same assessment of his own political position. These two Silicon Valley heavyweights hate each other, an acrimony evident in Musk's lengthy legal fight to stop OpenAI's planned conversion from a non-profit to a for-profit enterprise. Despite their enmity, though, they voiced this same idea at the same time. Musk and Altman have cultivated starkly different public personae. Where Musk is loud online, Altman is reserved. Where Musk is brash, Altman is calculated. Where Musk has swerved to the political right, Altman has attempted to play both sides of the aisle. But Altman's sentiments, concurrent and concurring with Musk's, perhaps offer an explanation for how these two could have worked together to found OpenAI together in 2015. After all, if their stock portfolios are any indication they both believe in 'the compounding magic of capitalism', as Altman put it. Last week, we published a story about people who use generative artificial intelligence to write their personal messages. AI is proliferating in offices with promises of productivity gains. As we grow more comfortable with it at work, though, it's also seeping into our personal lives. My colleague Adrienne Matei reports: Earlier this spring, Nik Vassev heard a high school friend's mother had died. Vassev, a 32-year-old tech entrepreneur in Vancouver, Canada, opened up Claude AI, Anthropic's artificial intelligence chatbot. Sign up to TechScape A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives after newsletter promotion Claude helped Vassev craft a note. Thanks to the message, Vassev's friend opened up about their grief. But Vassev never revealed that AI was involved. People 'devalue' writing that is AI-assisted, he acknowledges. In one 2023 study, 208 adults received a 'thoughtful' note from a friend; those who were told the note was written with AI felt less satisfied and 'more uncertain about where they stand' with the friend, according to the authors. Using AI in personal messages is a double gamble: first, that the recipient won't notice, and second, that they won't mind. Still, there are arguments for why taking the risk is worthwhile, and why a hint of AI in a Hinge message might not be so bad. Read the whole story here. We now have the capability to punch up any message – a more descriptive word here, a more heartfelt tone there – with a snap of a finger. Can AI help us better convey what we mean, eliminating the frustrating barrier of writing that stands between feeling and expression? Or will it desiccate our relationships if we do not force ourselves through the emotions of writing our messages ourselves? Will AI help us connect or allow us to feign connection without putting in the work? Both the benefits and drawbacks are evident, and some scenarios seem more appropriate than others. Perhaps you would not have sent a birthday card at all if you had not had a personalized message at the ready. One writer for the Atlantic was astounded when Google's Gemini, which has access to her personal conversations, wrote a sweet and specific birthday card that referenced real moments in her relationship with a good friend. Perhaps you would have ghosted someone without a mechanized speechwriter. The context in which you decide you will use AI to write – or when you disclose that you already have – will make all the difference in its reception. We want to hear more. AI is influencing our private moments and our intimate connections as well as our professional lives, and we want to know what situations you find it best suited to. ***Do you use generative AI to write your personal communications? If you do, email us at and tell us how and how often. Has it improved your relationships with others or made them more difficult? 'The vehicle suddenly accelerated with our baby in it': the terrifying truth about why Tesla's cars keep crashing Elon Musk's xAI gets permit for methane gas generators Jury says Google must pay California Android smartphone users $314.6m Trump to start TikTok sale talks with China, he says, with deal 'pretty much' reached Trump officials create searchable national citizenship database 'AI doesn't know what an orgasm sounds like': audiobook actors grapple with the rise of robot narrators Wimbledon chiefs defend AI use as Jack Draper says line calls not '100% accurate' Google undercounts its carbon emissions, report finds 'A billion people backing you': China transfixed as Musk turns against Trump Trump and Musk's feud blows up again with threats of Doge and deportation


Spectator
3 hours ago
- Spectator
Why aren't the stock markets spooked by Trump's new tariffs?
As President Trump unveiled his latest round of tariffs last night, investors barely paid any attention. The stock markets barely moved. The currency markets remained sleepy. And most of the traders in the global financial markets went back to planning their summer holidays. Compared to 'Liberation Day' back in April, it was a damp squib. Have investors learned to shrug off Trump's obsession with levies on imports? They certainly matter far less than he thinks they do. It was a typically eccentric performance. Yesterday afternoon, the White House fired off a series of letters imposing new tariffs on some of America's main trading partners. Japan faces 25 per cent tariffs, as does South Korea, while South Africa faces 30 per cent and Laos 40 per cent. There is an expectation that Trump's new tariffs will quickly get negotiated away This was an odd mix. South Africa appears to have annoyed the President with some American rhetoric. Meanwhile, exactly why the leader of the free world is bothering to spend so much time worrying about trade with Laos, which exports a total of $246 million (£181 million) of goods into the US, is a mystery to everyone. And yet, the more significant point was this: the market barely moved. Indeed, both the Tokyo and Seol indexes were up slightly on the day. There are two reasons for that. First, there is an expectation that Trump's new tariffs will quickly get negotiated away. The latest round of tariffs don't come into effect until next month. Over the next few weeks, there will probably be a few concessions, the White House will declare that it has secured a 'great deal' and the levies will be lifted. Companies have also figured out how to manage their way around them. It might mean shifting production to another country with lower tariffs. It might mean building a factory in the United States. It might just mean absorbing the levy, or else simply raising prices in America. It might even be a mix of all three. But one way or another, businesses are figuring out how to cope. The tariffs are an annoyance, but not much more than that. The markets and the world's biggest companies have seemingly learnt to shrug off President Trump's tariffs. The lesson of Liberation Day, when the markets went into meltdown, has been learned. They don't matter very much. Over the next four years, the President will no doubt periodically impose new sets of levies on imports. But increasingly, no one else will pay much attention to them.