Virgin Atlantic plotting ‘affordable’ supersonic flights from UK to US
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson is planning to launch a new service for his Virgin Atlantic brand that would see a flight from the UK to the US take just three and a half hours.
The planned ‘affordable’ supersonic flight is expected to start at £1750, or £3500 return, a price that is considerably less than a flight with Concorde's which cost £5400 one-way.
Should the plan go ahead it would be possible to reach the New York from London faster than a train ride to Glasgow. It usually takes around seven hours to fly to NYC.
According to the Mail Online Branson has already taken out an option to buy 10 new planes, which is currently a prototype called Boom and is being developed by pilot and former Amazon executive Blake Scholl.
"We are talking about the first supersonic jet people can afford to fly. You will be able to fly New York to London in three and a half hours for $5,000 return," he told the Mail Online.
"Concorde was just too expensive to fly – it had to fill 100 seats. You have to bring the ticket price down and make the aeroplane the right size."
A Virgin Group spokesman confirmed Branson’s interest in Boom and said: "Richard has long expressed interest in developing high-speed flight."