Farnborough Airshow 2018: Boeing unveils plans for hypersonic plane that could travel from Australia to Europe in just five hours

The hypersonic plane will be capable of travelling at the speed of sound
Boeing
Alexandra Richards27 June 2018

Boeing has unveiled plans for a new hypersonic plane which would enable passengers to cross the globe in a matter of hours.

The concept aircraft was unveiled at the American Institute of Aeronautics Aviation 2018 conference in Atlanta this week.

The revolutionary plane could reduce the flight time from Europe to Australia to just five hours.

Boeing said the plane could be available in 20 to 30 years’ time and said it would be capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound - the equivalent of 4,000 miles per hour.

It would be able to accommodate more passengers than a typical low-range business jet, and would be smaller than Boeing’s popular 737 narrow-body airliner.

The company said that engineers are working to develop the required technology for customers to “reap the benefits of hypersonic flight.”

Kevin Bowcutt, senior technical fellow and chief scientist of hypersonics said: “We’re excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than ever before.

“Boeing is building upon a foundation of six decades of work designing, developing and flying experimental hypersonic vehicles, which makes us the right company to lead the effort in bringing this technology to market in the future.”

The concept, along with other visions of Boeing’s future, will be on display at Farnborough Airshow in July.

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