AIRBUSDesign for the potential “Concorde 2”: three types of engines and maximum speed of 5,500 km/h (3,000 knots)AIRBUS
From London to New York in one hour, six hours fewer than would be needed today for the same flight in a commercial airliner, is the incredible performance predicted for a supersonic plane that would reach a maximum speed of 5,500 kilometers per hour (roughly 3,000 knots), fly at an altitude of 98,500 feet – three times higher than normal for the current generation of airliners – and carry only 20 passengers. The design details for this potential successor to the defunct Concorde jet, which flew at just over 2,000 km/h (1080 knots), were released last month after European aircraft manufacturer Airbus obtained a patent in the United States that will guarantee its intellectual ownership of this concept aircraft. The types of voyages to be undertaken by the futuristic plane have not been defined as yet. The Concorde 2, as the new design has become known, might be used to make faster connections between cities around the globe, or it might serve the space tourism industry. The design equips the aircraft with three different types of engines – including rockets. The rocket engines would allow the jet to lift off vertically like a space shuttle and break the sound barrier (1,236 km/h) before stabilizing at cruising speed. Airbus has not said whether it actually intends to build the aircraft.
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