"Son of Concord" is born

News at Gatwick 06/02/2008

News Index : February 2008 : Ryanair's website closes

New supersonic aircraft unveiled

A revolutionary aircraft billed as "Son of Concord" could be in our skies within 15 years. The craft would fly at more than twice the speed of Concord and five times the speed of sound. The plane would be able to carry 300 passengers running on hi-tech liquid hydrogen-powered engines. The aircraft will be far more environmentally friendly than standard aircraft with far fewer carbon emissions.

The project is partly funded by the European Space Agency and the European Union. The aircraft is being developed by British engineers at the Oxfordsire based company Reaction Engines Limited. Alan Bond, a senior engineer in the project said "It's designed to leave Brussels International Airport, fly quietly and sub-sonically out into the North Atlantic at about Mach 0.9 before reaching Mach 5 across the North Pole and heading down over the Pacific to Australia. The total flight time would be four hours and forty minutes allowing for air traffic control". The current airtime to Australia is 22 hours 50 minutes.

The aircraft would be 433ft long named A2 at the moment and weigh about 400 tonnes. The current estimated cost of a ticket would be in the region of £2,000.

News Index : February 2008 : Ryanair's website closes

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