Supersonic plane flies from London to New York in 3.5 hours

Supersonic plane flies from London to New York in 3.5 hours
By Daisy Doctor


As Australians, the thought of an eight-hour flight to New York seems pretty absurd.

In fact, a flight that’s less than nine-hours is an absolute treat while travelling.

That’s why this news regarding a “supersonic” jet transporting passengers from London to New York in less than four hours is both mind-blowing and not at all helping our Northern Hemisphere flying jealousy.

According to The Sun, the “mini-Concorde” can fly from London to New York in three-and-a-half hours at speeds of 2,714km/h.

Aptly named the “Baby Boom”, or the XB-1 test plane for those in the know, the plane has been heralded as a first for “supersonic” travel.

As per The Sun, the engineers behind the Baby will use data to continually refine the safety and aerodynamics of the plane, which will likely seat 55 brave passengers.

Though, this is not the first time we’ve heard about “supersonic” travel on a commercial level.

Last year, Virgin Australia announced it was looking to move into the “super” space soon.

In an address given at the Sir Reginald Ansett memorial lecture at the Safeskies conference in Canberra, Borghetti spoke about the likelihood of flying from Sydney to Los Angeles in seven hours.

According to The Australian, Borghetti touted the “extroadinary” progress the industry was making towards supersonic passenger planes.

“It is entirely reasonable to believe that in the next 10 years we will see supersonic jets safely and sustainably flying commercial passengers,” he said.

The result would mean passengers could wave goodbye to the brutal 13-hour commute between Sydney and Los Angeles once and for all.

“This isn’t a far-off dream,” Borghetti said, adding there has been “a lot” of focus this year on how far planes could go non-stop.

“However, I believe in order to achieve the next step-change in aviation, we need to shift the paradigm,” he said.

“We should not be asking ‘How far, but rather How fast?”

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