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Supersonic passenger travel, which died out with the Concorde's demise in 2003, will make a comeback by the mid-2020s if three entrepreneurial US-based companies can make jets quiet and efficient enough to win over buyers and fliers. Fifteen years ago, Boeing Co cancelled plans to build the near-supersonic Sonic Cruiser, the last big attempt by a major manufacturer to speed up commercial travel. Now Japan Airlines Co Ltd and Virgin Group are backing one of the three US supersonic projects, Denver-based Boom Technology Inc, which plans a 55-seat all business class jet.
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Lockheed Martin is partnering with Aerion Corp to develop smaller supersonic business jets, with Spike Aerospace Inc also targeting the private jet market given many see the super-rich as the likeliest early adopters of supersonic travel. (Image: Reuters)
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Concorde was developed in the 1960s, meaning this is hardly a new technology. (Image: Reuters)
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But the programme was government-backed, with only 14 jets ever delivered to then-government owned British Airways and Air France. Other airline orders evaporated as the purchase price soared and they were eventually retired as maintenance costs rose and passenger revenue fell. (Image: Reuters)
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New players are relying on venture capital funding models. (Image: Reuters)
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To make the project economics stack up the engines need to be far more fuel efficient and less noisy than those used by Concorde or fighter jets. (Image: Reuters)
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Engine manufacturers and jet makers have spent decades improving fuel efficiency, expanding range and reducing noise. (Image: Reuters)
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But to get up to mach speed, a supersonic jet requires an engine core more like those on the commercial jets of the 1970s and 1980s which noisily gobble more air and fuel. (Image: Reuters)
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Boom wants a $200 million jet capable of Mach 2.2 and Spike aims for a $100 million jet at Mach 1.6, down from an earlier Mach 1.8. (Image: Reuters)
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Supersonic passenger travel, which died out with the Concorde's demise in 2003, will make a comeback by the mid-2020s if three entrepreneurial US-based companies can make jets quiet and efficient enough to win over buyers and fliers.
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