When the news of United Airlines’ plans to re-enter the supersonic passenger jet game broke earlier this month, aviation fans were beside themselves. It’s like the Concorde’s coming back!
While it’s nice to have some good news after a very tough two years for air travel, it also raises a lot of questions. The Concorde was discontinued because it was so expensive to run, and with the spectre of COVID-19 likely to hang around the aviation industry for years to come, how on earth are United going to make international supersonic travel viable?