In 2003, engineers officially gave up on the Concorde, a British-French turbojet that had ferried passengers across the Atlantic in record flight times for decades. The plane had proved a financial albatross, not to mention a public nuisance, leaving years of bone-rattling sonic booms in its wake.
But 16 years later, an American startup called Hermeus is dusting off those old supersonic blueprints, with its eyes on even quicker flight times across the Atlantic. While the Concorde could fly from JFK to Charles de Gaulle (generally a seven-hour flight) in just over three hours, Hermeus claims its plane will make the trip in a bonkers 90 minutes.
Legit? Hard to say. The promotional video isn’t too promising, but the team of four does have some serious credentials. Two of its members have worked at Generation Orbit, which collaborated on an Air Force rocket with SpaceX, while the company also has funding from Koshla Ventures and advisors who’ve worked on Jeff Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin.
In order to make it across the ocean that quickly, Hermeus’ plane would have to travel at speeds up to Mach 5, which translates to … 4,000-MPH. Similar to hyperloops and flying trains, don’t hold your breath on this coming to commercial air travel any time soon.
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