Wer hat den nächsten Supersonic Jet am Start??

[Jubilee]

Airbus hat zwar Pläne, steht da bei weitem aber nicht alleine da

 

Airbus plans son of Concorde

BARELY two years since the last Concordes were retired, Airbus, the European aircraft consortium, is looking at plans for a new generation of supersonic passenger jets.

 

The manufacturer, in which Britain’s BAE Systems is a partner, is drawing up designs for a 250-seat plane with a range of up to 6,000 miles that could reach speeds approaching 1,500mph.

 

It believes that rapid growth in the aviation market means that by 2050 there could be demand for supersonic travel on hundreds of long-haul routes. Corinne Marizy, an Airbus researcher, told a conference at Cambridge University last week that by 2050 supersonic travel could account for 10% to 20% of flights.

 

Airbus’s design is one of a number of blueprints being drawn up around the world for supersonic jets, the first of which Marizy said could be in service by 2015. By 2025 the market would be growing fast, she added.

 

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In the next few weeks Japan is due to launch an arrow-shaped plane at twice the speed of sound high over the Australian outback. The aircraft — a Franco-Japanese design — is an unmanned model but the aim is to use it to build a 300-seat aircraft that could reach service by 2015.

 

Its engine has already been tested to Mach 5.5, or 3,700mph, which would bring New York within an hour’s flight of Heathrow.

 

The most likely prospect for a new supersonic passenger plane is not a commercial airliner but a business jet aimed at a segment of the flying public. The aircraft makers Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Dassault, Gulfstream, and Sukhoi have all announced plans for such planes.

 

Professor Peter Haynes, acting director of the Institute of Aviation, based at Cambridge University, said the fall in the price of air travel at a time of rising incomes could create a lucrative market for supersonic flights among ordinary travellers as well as the rich.

 

Aviation is coming under increasing scrutiny for its impact on global warming. In Britain the government predicts that air passenger numbers will rise from 180m to 475m by 2030. Last week Elliot Morley, the environment minister, said that he wanted aviation to be included in international emissions agreements.

 

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