Last week's poll: Is supersonic passenger flight back on?

From mass redundancies to cancelled orders for new aircraft, the drastic reduction in air-travel triggered by the pandemic has had an eye-watering impact on the civil aviation sector.

But could a new generation of supersonic passenger jets help forge a new role for the industry, and provide an opportunity for some of the world’s most innovative aerospace engineering organisations?

Despite the notable cancellation of the Rolls-Royce / Airbus E-Fan X project - which had hoped to demonstrate the world’s first large hybrid-electric passenger jet - the sector has been keen to stress that low carbon innovation remains front and centre of its plans for the future. But a slew of recent announcements would suggest that it might be looking elsewhere for the big opportunities of the future.

As previously reported by The Engineer, there has been growing interest in supersonic passenger flight for a number of years now – largely amongst a community of disruptive startups keen to open up new opportunities in a crowded industry.