The jet that promises to take us to Europe in under five hours

BOEING says the amazing feat is possible — and this is the passenger jet that’s going to make it happen.

BOEING has unveiled a new hypersonic 6400kmh jet that could fly from New York to London in just two hours and from Australia to Europe in less than five, it has been reported.

The Sun reports the airline giant also said the new aircraft, which could be released into service in 2030, is almost three times faster than Concorde.

According to Aviation Week Network, Boeing has joined with hypersonic specialists at the company’s research and technology unit to study a Mach 5 passenger transport capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in two hours or the Pacific Ocean in three hours.

Flying at Mach 5, the unnamed aircraft has a projected cruise altitude of 30 kilometres — nine kilometres higher than Concorde — and two-and-a-half times its speed.

Boeing said its additional speed would enable same-day return flights even across the Pacific and provide airlines with increased asset utilisation, it has been reported.

It would allow the aircraft to fly from Australia to Europe in less than five hours, the West Australian reported.

Boeing' hypersonic concept plane. Picture: Boeing

The concept vehicle was unveiled at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation 2018 conference in Atlanta.

Its size would be larger than long-range business jets, but smaller than Boeing’s 737 aircraft.

It’s also hoped the new aircraft would have military applications.

“When you look at the problem of getting from Point A to Point B anywhere in the world, the question is how fast do you want to go and how fast is fast enough?” Boeing’s chief scientist for hypersonics Kevin Bowcutt said.

“Supersonic isn’t really fast enough to go overseas and back in one day. For the business traveller or the military, where time is really important, that’s an interesting point.

“Mach 5 is where you can do that. You can get across the Atlantic in about two hours and across the Pacific in about three hours.”

Mr Bowcutt said the aircraft, if sanctioned, could be flying in military operations within ten years.

But he explained commercial planes took longer due to “market, regulatory and environmental requirements”.

“So it will happen when there is a convergence of those things,” he said.

The aircraft would be significantly faster than Concorde, which was retired in 2003.

Concorde was the ultimate luxury in air travel but in 2003 the iconic jet was grounded and supersonic passenger flights came to an end.

In April 2003, Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their Concorde fleets after 27 years of service, with both carriers blaming low passenger numbers and rising maintenance costs.

Passenger numbers fell after an Air France Concorde crashed minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground.

On a Concorde flight, the typical flight time from London to New York was about three-and-a-half hours.

The aircraft had a top speed of 2180km/h while regular passenger planes travelled at between 800 and 970km/h.

Corcorde was capable of travelling faster, but due to the amount of noise it made, pilots were only able to hit the throttle over the Atlantic Ocean.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.