Rob K writes:

I cant help but wonder what comes after Concorde. Is that really it for
civilian supersonic travel? Surely all those in the fortunate position of
being able to afford it will still want/need a 3hr flight across the
Atlantic.

Boeing seems convinced that greater speed (as opposed to greater
capacity) is what passengers will want in the future, and I agree.
Going supersonic, though, requires a staggering amount of development
and research ($34 billion was a figure I saw for the development of the
Concorde). It can be done. You have to get past the environmental
objections (most of which are bogus). The technical obstacles to making
it economical are substantial, although an aircraft that flies high
enough and fast enough would require less fuel than a conventional jet
(this is true for the SR-71, for example). Hypersonic aircraft might be
the next step, instead of supersonic, but who knows?

In any case, since current jets work "well enough," I don't think that
anyone will be sinking money into supersonic development any time soon.
Even the military has only limited use for supersonic aircraft.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.