The flight time between London and New York is currently around 7 hours, with prices running from around £600-1000 return in economy and thousands for a first class flight, especially when the service is busy or on short notice. However, the new ‘Boom’ jet which is being backed by Richard Branson claims it’ll be able to do it in little over three hours, with tickets costing around £3500 or £5000 return.
‘I have long been passionate about aerospace innovation and the development of high-speed commercial flights,’ Sir Richard said. ‘As an innovator in the space, Virgin Galactic’s decision to work with Boom was an easy one.’ he added.
The Boom jet will seat 40 people, and take between 3 and 3.5 hours to make the journey. While the service isn’t ready yet, it’s set to take its first test flights in 2017 and if everything goes well, it should be in service shortly afterwards.
The new jet will be constructed from carbon-fibre composites, and while it uses existing technologies it’ll still top out 10% faster than Concorde at 1451mph.
‘Through Virgin Galactic’s manufacturing arm, the Spaceship Company, we will provide engineering and manufacturing services, along with flight test support and operations as part of our shared ambitions.’
It’s not going to appeal to everyone given it isn’t cheap to get a flight, but there’s certainly a market for those who need to be on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in as little time as possible.
