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As someone who travels cross-atlantic semi-occasionally my price threshold for a 50% shorter flight is 25% increased cost. This is coming from a relatively well
by DanielHB 2y ago
As someone who travels cross-atlantic semi-occasionally my price threshold for a 50% shorter flight is 25% increased cost. This is coming from a relatively well off middle-aged software engineer.
It is hard to think that this tech will ever be common besides a few "high status" (NY->London) routes like the concord was. It is my understanding that fuel costs increase as speed increases so there is no way this could ever be cheaper than non-hypersonic flights. But of course there is a market even if it is very limited, just like there was one for the concord. I expect this tech might displace some of the private plane market.
To me it seems more likely that we will see short-haul smaller electric aircraft take over for even cheaper costs with more stops along the way. Think like NY -> Açores -> London or LA -> Hawaii -> Japan.
edit: reading about this it seems the fuel-efficiency calculation is not as simple as I thought, there are some savings to be had in fuel by going above sound-speed. It seems the lowest fuel-efficiency happens at just below speed of sound. I am no expert in the subject though.
- kachapopopow 2y agoEfficiency actually increases the faster you go at some point until a certain limit due to being able to ride the 'boom' turning the energy required to keep the plane up into energy that pushes you forward, there's also special things that happen to friction when you pierce the barrier which are still being researched. Flying higher also means less molecules hitting your cruiser.
- tstrimple 2y agoEssentially supercavitation in the air?
- kachapopopow 2y agoYou can call it that, I guess.
- zhoujianfu 2y agoI believe boom has suggested it would only cut about 30% of the time off, and cost 3x.. not to mention needing to refuel to cross the pacific. :/
- tiahura 2y agoWhat’s Boom’s track record on accurately predicting final ticket prices?
- DanielHB 2y agoI think those values would make it viable for a few routes, but what really matters is long term savings. Like if they can fly supersonic overland and increase fuel efficiency more than traditional sub-sonic jet engines. To me it seems if those numbers can't get better then the endeavor is not going to pay off the investment for the few routes that would be able to work at those numbers.
- ls612 2y agoCONUS -> Honolulu -> East Asia or Australia will be a very viable setup. Especially if the refueling stop in Hawaii is well optimized for speed.