Your questions answered: Supersonic airliners

NASA and Airbus are among the organisations that have recently revealed that they are working on concepts for supersonic passenger vehicles, but after the commercial failure of Concorde, is there really a future for ever-faster transport? And if there is, what technical challenges will engineers have to overcome to make it a reality?

We asked readers of The Engineer for their questions and put them to an expert panel, including representatives from Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, Reaction Engines and Imperial College London.

What’s the business case for reviving supersonic flight?

RV: The business case for supersonic flight is weak. Generally speaking, the reduction in lift-to-drag ratio due to shock wave formation and more complex engineering of supersonic aircraft, tends to increase costs. This goes against the long-term trend of decreasing ticket costs and, in the near term, will exclude the majority of the travelling public, apart from the rich and businessmen. Nevertheless, rising living standards will eventually make supersonic travel affordable for long-distance travel, providing that engineering and environmental challenges can be solved.