China has unveiled an aircraft it claims could reduce the flight time between London and New York to less than three hours. State-owned firm Comac says their C949 supersonic jet will fly 1.6 times faster than the speed of sound, and will be able to travel a whopping 11,000km per trip.
If the plans materialise and the striking-looking plane hits the market, it could be one of the first supersonic commercial jets since the British and French-made Concorde was retired in 2003. Concorde enabled incredibly quick transatlantic travel, cruising at over mach 2 (twice the the speed of sound). However, the iconic aircraft was hampered by various factors, including the high cost of fuelling them, and limited routes due to concerns over the roaring sonic boom it produced.
But reports in China suggest the C949’s boom could be brought down to a mere 83.9 perceived level in decibels, equivalent to the noise produced by a standard hairdryer, as reported by The Mirror.
However, despite being quieter and having a range more than twice that of the Concorde, it’s only expected to have a capacity of between 28 and 48 passengers, compared to Concorde’s 100, as per Globe Trender.
According to The South China Morning Post, officials hope it will rival US efforts to crack quieter commercial supersonic travel.
Plans for the plane came to light in March, but Comac doesn’t anticipate the planes entering service until 2049.
Meanwhile, last month the US began taxi tests on the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft, the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight by reducing the loud sonic boom to a quieter “thump.”
The tests are the “last series of ground tests before first flight”, NASA says.
The aircraft, created in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, is projected to fly is Mach 1.5, or approximately 990 mph (1,590 km/h), meaning it could potentially fly nonstop from London to New York in around 3 hours and 44 minutes, a journey that normally takes seven or eight hours.
In 2023, the NASA investigated the business case for supersonic passenger air travel aboard aircraft that could theoretically travel between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (1,535-3,045 mph).
Data gathered by the one-seater aircraft will be shared with US and international regulators to inform the establishment of new, data-driven acceptable noise thresholds related to supersonic commercial flight over land.