EADS biofuel airliner could fly four times speed of sound

The plane could fly from Tokyo to Paris or Los Angeles under 2 hours 30 minutes, the aerospace firm announced this week at the Paris Air Show.

Named ZEHST (Zero Emission High Supersonic Transport), the high-speed concept draws on technology from Astrium’s suborbital spaceplane project and could reach speeds of Mach 4 (5,000 kph or 3,107 mph).

ZEHST demonstrators are planned for the end of the decade, to be followed by development of an operational vehicle, with the final commercial craft scheduled to be ready by 2050.

The thrust required for the ZEHST’s initial flight phase ­– beginning with a takeoff, a climb to 5km altitude and acceleration to Mach 0.8 – would be provided by two high-power, low-bypass turbojet engines without afterburners that operate on biofuel.

Two small liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen-powered booster rocket engines would then be fired, followed by the ignition of a larger one, accelerating the aircraft to a speed of Mach 2.5 up to a cruising altitude of 23km.