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Two decades after the last flight of the Concorde, without a doubt the world’s most prestigious aircraft, the aeronautical industry is close to presenting a plane that is capable of connecting Europe and America in record time. Unlike the ill-fated Concorde, which cast serious doubts on the safety of supersonic travel, the new design is focused on even more rapid hypersonic flights.

 

US company Hermeus is developing a range of aircraft capable of reaching speeds of up to 6,000 km/h, five times the speed of sound. Their most ambitious prototype, the Halcyon, will be able to cover the distance between Spain and New York in just 90 minutes, the time it takes to play a soccer match.

 

The new hypersonic commercial planes will be the fastest in the world, capable of carrying 125 passengers, and the first model could see the light of day at the beginning of the next decade. In the meantime, the company plans to experiment with a less sophisticated model than the Halcyon, which has room on board for just 20 people.

 

Built from titanium alloy, this aircraft will fly at an altitude of around 27,000 meters and the plane will manage a journey of 8,500 kilometres – more than 2,000 more than the distance between Madrid and New York – on one tank of fuel.

 

Likewise, Hermeus is set to launch a hypersonic drone called Darkhorse in the near future, which has been designed to carry out missions related to defence and intelligence collection.

 

Once the premier name in world travel, Concorde was taken out of commission in 2003. The beginning of the end dates back to July 25, 2000, when an Air France jet crashed after taking off from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, killing all 109 passengers and crew on board, in addition to four civilians on the ground.

 

 

Images: Hermeus