Richard Branson has collaborated on a new supersonic jet that will be capable of travelling more than two and a half times as fast as current air transport. Already being hailed as the “fastest civil aircraft ever made”, the jet would be able to travel up to 2335 kms per hour, easily covering the distance between New York and London in three and a half hours.
Branson had partnered with American startup company Boom, which is headed by Blake Scholl. Scholl is a former Amazon executive and pilot who saw the vacuum left in air travel by the demise of the Concorde.
“Sixty years after the dawn of the jet age, we’re still flying at 1960s speeds,” Scholl said.
So began the development of the XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator, affectionately nicknamed ‘Baby Boom’. The supersonic jet will be more environmentally friendly and economical than the Concorde supersonic jet, which was grounded in 2003.
Virgin will provide the manufacturing and engineering services, as well as flight testing support and processes. The partners are very passionate about making super fast travel available to everyone. Although tickets are predicted to retail at US$5,000, the costs are projected to diminish as the jets become more plentiful.
Thankfully Branson’s interest in earthly space travel seems to have only increased with Virgin’s forays into space travel.
“I have long been passionate about aerospace innovation and the development of high-speed commercial flights,” he said.
Leave a Reply