There could be supersonic passenger planes this decade. Supersonic means faster than the speed of sound, which is 1,234kph. United Airlines will buy 15 supersonic jets. The planes will fly up to 88 business class passengers and have a top speed of 2,099kph. Most modern airplanes fly at around 1,000kph. The new planes will cut the time it takes to fly from London to New York from around 7 1/2 hours to less than four hours.
The United Airlines jets will be the first supersonic jets to make commercial flights since 2003. The cost of the tickets will be about the same as regular business class tickets. Previously, supersonic travel cost over 20 times more than economy class. Only the super-rich could fly. The new planes will use less fuel and will be net-zero carbon. The cost of each airplane is around $200 million. Boom already has around $6 billion in orders.