On June 4, US airline United Airlines announced that it had ordered 15 hypersonic aircraft from the Boom Aviation startup. The airline hopes to attract tourists around the world with half-time flight times and prices only equal to the current top-class ticket prices.
The hypersonic aircraft can fly from New Jersey City in New Jersey to London, England, in three and a half hours and from San Francisco to Tokyo in six hours, for about $5,000-7,000.
However, NBC News said that these hypersonic flights will not be able to operate until 2029 at the earliest.
"The flight is expected to take place at the end of the decade," said Blake Scholl, CEO of Boom, a headquartered suburb of Denver. We want to make the sound as quickly as possible. We think the world needs this.
Scholl, who was previously Groupon's chief product officer and director at Amazon, revealed that he started his underground company with a spreadshead and a dream.
The new hypersonic aircraft will not emitted carbon and use sustainable fuel, currently priced at 8 times more than traditional aircraft fuel from petroleum.
Scholl said that although he had no knowledge of aerospace, he flew small aircraft for entertainment. To perfect the details, he hired and collaborated with some of the best minds, including the chief engineer who worked for SpaceX and members of the team that built Rolls-Royce's Gulfstream jets and engines.
United Airlines and the aviation industry are eager for a new future after a particularly bad year under the COVID-19 pandemic. The travel ban has reduced the total number of passengers from an all-time high of more than 2 million a day to less than 100,000.
Along with other airlines, United has received US government money to support employees' salaries during the downturn, including a $3.5 billion grant and a $1.5 billion loan.
The new hypersonic contract costs $3 billion for 15 new aircraft, with the option to add up to 50 more.
United were delighted with the ability and posted a new video on Instagram stating "supersound is here" with a bustling hip-hop beat.
Mike Leskinen, vice president of United Airlines, said: At an altitude of 18,000m with large windows, it would be a great experience. If we take off in London right after sunset, you can watch the sun rise west as you return to New York City, Leskinen said.
However, aviation experts say the move could mainly be for United Airlines to tell the world that it has a vision for the future.
Adam Pilarski, a Virginia-based aviation consultant for Avitas, said that the commercial version of the hypersonic aircraft has not yet been manufactured and has not been certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The previous transatlantic hypersonic commercial aircraft, the Concorde, was mothballed in 2003. With a ticket price of 12,000 USD, Concorde is unlikely to break even.
