Because “the pursuit of speed is a moral imperative.”
Why, it seems like only yesterday that TreeHugger Sami was telling us that greener aviation was on its way with electric flight. But on that same day, at the Farnborough Airshow where all the big announcements are made, Boom Supersonic announced that it is building a supersonic jet that will cut trip times in half. Blake Scholl, Boom founder, touts the concept while at a museum housing a Concorde:
"Today... the world is more linked than it's ever been before and the need for improved human connection has never been greater," Scholl said…."Our vision is to build a faster airplane that is accessible to more and more people, to anybody who flies."
The company is backed with investments from Richard Branson and Japan Airlines, and hopes to be flying by the mid 2020s. Boom, (perhaps an unfortunate choice of name, given how booms were one of the big problems with the Concorde) has designed a plane with 55 seats, much smaller than the Concorde because the ultra-rich market can only fill so many of the big luxurious seats. And as far as the boom goes, they plan on being “30 times quieter than Concorde’s.”
They also claim that their planes with have a fuel efficiency per seat comparable to current business class flights in subsonic planes.
Fuel efficiency and operating costs go hand in hand. Since our aircraft has the same fuel burn as subsonic business class, it also has the same fuel consumption and emissions profile. We are relentlessly innovating toward lower fares—which will mean further reductions in fuel consumption and emissions.
They also try to make the point that hey, travel is good for the planet.
While it is important to preserve mankind’s ability to flourish on our planet, it is also important to extend that ability. A key part of this flourishing, in our view, is supersonic travel. We look forward to working with innovators and scientists around the world to ensure that the future is both green and supersonic.
In their blog, Blake Scholl actually claims that “the pursuit of ever-faster travel speed is really a moral imperative. Supersonic flight offers the world a deeper form of human connection, just as earlier airplanes and trains and steamships once did.” He also makes the claim that it won’t increase carbon emissions.
Boom/Promo image
