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Despite the promise of two-hour flights from New York to Los Angeles, the supersonic airline industry never really got off the ground. That is largely because of physics: specifically, the sonic boom, the thunderclap noise made when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, which essentially doomed supersonic aviation as a viable business.
In 1960s-era tests, booms reportedly broke windows, cracked plaster and knocked knick knacks from shelves; in 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) forbade civilian supersonic aircraft from flying over land. Planes could go supersonic only over the ocean — most famously, the Concorde, the sleek British-French passenger plane that flew a handful of routes in less than half the average time. But potentially lucrative overland routes were off-limits, restricting supersonic travel’s business prospects. (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/01/business/supersonic-plane-travel-concorde.html)
Concorde's reputation suffered when a charter flight was involved in a fatal crash when taking off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2000. The supersonic, transatlantic jet took off for the last time three years later. Officially, airlines cited reduced demand after the September 11 attacks and rising maintenance costs, although the crash is broadly thought to have had some influence as well. (https://www.dw.com/en/united-airlines-aims-to-revive-supersonic-passenger-travel-with-boom/a-57775019)
NASA and aviation entrepreneurs, however, are working to change the fate of supersonic air travel, with new aircraft designed to turn the boom into a “sonic thump” that is no louder than a car door being slammed 20 feet away. That may induce the FAA to lift the ban, which could allow for two-hour coast-to-coast supersonic flights.
Boom Supersonic, a US-based company, rolled out its XB-1 supersonic test plane last month. The skinny, sharply-pointed machine will allow Boom to confirm aspects of the design of its proposed Overture, a much more elegant delta-winged project that echoes Concorde. Overture is intended to carry between 65 and 88 passengers across oceanic routes, sparing human populations the supersonic boom generated by its Mach 2.2 speed. (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54416696)
READ MORE: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/aerospace-startup-boom-supersonic-aims-revive-commercial-supersonic-air-travel-2021-08-17/