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ghaff | karma 44589 | avg karma 1.65 · 2022-09-22 08:26:16

And not just an engine design but an engine design that fundamentally changes the economics of commercial supersonic flight.

tokai | karma 8030 | avg karma 3.41 · 2022-09-22 08:37:49

I thought noise was the issue with commercial supersonic flight not economics.

ghaff | karma 44589 | avg karma 1.65 · 2022-09-22 08:43:05

Noise is an issue for overland flying (which of course affects the economic viability of a supersonic aircraft).

But even if you assume there's a viable transatlantic market for supersonic flight, you probably can't charge all that huge a premium over business/first. If your premium has to be 2x to 3x, I doubt you have a market.

Handwaving away noise issues with supersonic flight over land gets you closer to something viable. But you still need economics that aren't that different from an all business-class subsonic. (And my understanding is that British Airways had trouble making all business work on the London to New York route.

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NovemberWhiskey | karma 8094 | avg karma 3.27 · 2022-09-22 09:12:59

>And my understanding is that British Airways had trouble making all business work on the London to New York route.

I don't know - the all-business class A318 service from London City to JFK ran from 2009 to 2020 and was up to two flights a day for a significant part of that time. I guess it was really Covid that killed it.

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ghaff | karma 44589 | avg karma 1.65 · 2022-09-22 09:15:44

Fair enough. Although that is also obviously not a run-of-the-mill city pair.

xani_ | karma 1252 | avg karma 2.26 · 2022-09-22 09:08:25

Both. Noise limits where you can go, and that limits who will want the service.

arethuza | karma 32254 | avg karma 2.88 · 2022-09-22 08:53:19

Maybe they could use a SABRE engine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABRE_(rocket_engine)

Mind you, I've been hearing about that since I was at high school and I'm in my late 50s. :-)

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