Supersonic travel: How China could 'leapfrog' US and Europe's commercial aviation industry

Innovation in commercial aviation has been stuck for 60 years. A commercial supersonic jet might be back on the market soon, but will China get there first?

New C919 Air Route Opens In China With In-cabin Wi-Fi Service
(Image credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

There is one very odd fact about commercial aviation. Although it has grown hugely, and we all fly far more frequently than ever before, it has hardly advanced technologically for 60 years. Sure, the aeroplanes are a little safer, slightly quieter, and they use less fuel, but those are all minor modifications. In the one respect that matters to passengers – how quickly you can get to your destination – it has gone backwards. You can no longer fly faster than the speed of sound, as you could when Concorde was still operational.

That might be about to change. We are on the cusp of a new era of aeroplane travel, with a whole series of technological advances making it possible that a commercial supersonic jet might be back on the market soon.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.