Industry
Trends
Supersonic Airliners
Although the aviation industry has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the nascent field of high-speed civil aviation is one area that is recording noteworthy progress
on the Horizon by Joseph Noronha
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eventeen years – that is how long commercial aviation has been stuck in the subsonic flight regime after British Airways ended Concorde flights in October 2003. In a world obsessed with speed and timesaving, that is remarkable. After all, the prospect of flying from London to New York in three and a quarter hours instead of the current seven hours or from San Francisco to Tokyo in five and a half hours instead of 11, would strongly appeal to most travellers. That is why several companies are racing to get their supersonic jets to the market. These include Boom Supersonic’s Overture Mach 2.2 airliner, Aerion Supersonic’s AS2 Mach 1.4 Business Jet and Spike Aerospace whose S-512 Mach 1.6 aircraft has both Business Jet and commercial possibilities. And in August 2020, Virgin Galactic announced plans to collaborate with Rolls-Royce to build a Mach 3 airliner. In fact, although the aviation industry has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the nascent
field of high-speed civil aviation is one area that is recording noteworthy progress. But can the supersonic hopefuls overcome the stiff challenges they face? BAN THE BOOM. Concorde entered commercial service simultaneously with Air France and British Airways on January 21, 1976. However, it was soon slapped with stiff operational restrictions that forced it to stay subsonic overland. Many countries completely prohibit supersonic passenger overflights because of the booms they generate. But over the last decade or two, aerodynamic shaping technology has succeeded in making sonic booms more benign. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are reviewing the restrictions placed on civilian supersonic planes. In January this year, the FAA issued a “final rule” to facilitate the safe development of such aircraft. Once the review is completed, by
PHOTOGRAPH: Aerion Supersonic
AS2 Aerion Supersonic
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SP’S AIRBUZ • Issue 1 • 2021
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