Chicago (CBS / AP) – United Airlines can make flights to Europe much shorter.

Chicago-based airlines want to bring supersonic travel back to the skies for the first time since Concorde retired 18 years ago.

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United Airlines bought 15 supersonic jets from a startup called Boom. Boom is currently designing an airplane that is just an image of an artist. Boom is in the agreement for safety and the environment. If you design an airplane that meets the criteria and flies faster than the speed of sound, it includes 35 additional options.

United wants to carry passengers by air in 2029. Airlines will cut flights between London and the New York area to just three and a half hours, bringing Tokyo to just six hours from San Francisco.

United Airlines CEO Blake Scholl said the acquisition was worth $ 3 billion, $ 200 million per aircraft, and no typical discount in the aircraft industry.

About 20 years have passed since the last flight of the supersonic Concorde, which British Airways and Air France began using in 1976 to transport luxury passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. The latter was withdrawn in 2003, but three years later Air France’s Concorde crashed into a hotel shortly after taking off from Paris, killing everyone on board and four on the ground.

Several companies are working on new supersonic jets that save more fuel and reduce climate change emissions than the Concorde.

Boom is working on an 88-seat plane called Overture. It is said to be the first supersonic airliner to fly on so-called sustainable fuel. According to Shoal, a third-party prototype will make its first test flight later this year or earlier in 2022.

According to the Denver-based company, the plane can accelerate up to 1.7 times the speed of sound, or about 1,300 miles per hour. It’s slower than the Concorde, but more than twice as fast as many airliners today.

United support is a big step forward for the boom. Another supersonic candidate, Aerion, said last month it lacked funds to produce its AS2 aircraft.

Supersonic jets are often prohibited in densely populated areas due to the sonic boom. This eliminates many potential land routes, as planes have to fly at inefficient subsonic speeds.

Chicago-based United believes its coastal hubs in San Francisco and Newark, NJ, and their business travelers’ customers are better suited to provide supersonic service than their competitors.

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Mike Reskinen, vice president of corporate development and former aerospace analyst at United, wants United to offer both premium and economy seats, but no final decision has been made on the layout of the rooms. Mentionned.

United is sensitive to the high fares that led to the Concorde’s demise and, like other jets, believe the cost of operating a boom plane will decline over time.

Concorde is proud of the UK and French airlines and has ushered in a new era of high speed long distance travel. The aircraft had a distinctive delta wing design that was easily recognizable as it passed overhead towards New York or Dulles Airport on the outskirts of Washington.

Despite its fame, airplanes were not widely used. The Sonic Boom limited flight routes on land, was more expensive than other jets, and was relatively small in size, so tickets were too expensive for anyone other than the wealthy and influential.

Atmosphere Research travel analyst Henry Hartbelt says boom jets appear to be targeting business travelers, but companies are trying to cut travel spending and employees if fares are too high. He said he could resist getting on a supersonic plane.

Shoal said the boom jet could run 75% cheaper than the Concorde, thanks to decades of advancements in the engine and a lighter fuselage.

“It will be an affordable ticket for many more people than ever before at supersonic speeds,” Shoal said. He predicted that the speed of supersonic flight would revolutionize air travel, as jets replaced most large propeller-driven planes.

Not everyone chasing the aviation industry is convinced that developing a new aircraft can cost billions of dollars.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at Teal Group, said he believed that if there were profitable markets for supersonic airliners, Boeing and Airbus would build them.

“It shows that huge, established players are not aware of it,” he said. “There’s no reason they can’t do this. There’s no secret sauce Boom keeps safe somewhere.

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