Brits demand for supersonic air travel grows
Above:
Boom's vision of its supersonic passenger aircraft at Heathrow.
Courtesy Boom Technology
Furthermore, a third of Britons refuse to travel anywhere with a flight time of more than five hours.
Air travel is seemingly not as advanced as Britons would like it to be, according to new research by an online travel agency in the UK, with many wanting the return of high speed long-haul transport like that once offered by Concorde.
As many as four fifths of Britons admitted that they would book more long distance flights if travel times were shorter in length.
Courtesy Boom Technology
Last month, Sir Richard Branson (right) - who offered to buy British Airways’ Concordes when it announced its supersonic fleet's' retirement - took options on the first of 10 aircraft being designed by Boom Technology to carry 40 passengers at speeds of Mach 2.2 (Concorde flew 100 passengers at Mach 2.0.) and VirginGalactic is to assist Boom with manufacturing and testing.
The team behind holiday booking website www.sunshine.co.uk carried out the study as part of ongoing research into the travel experiences and preferences of Britons. In total, 2,643 people aged 18 and over took part in the study and respondents answered questions surrounding travel and transport relating to holidays.
Everyone taking part was asked 'Would you like to see the return of supersonic passenger jets like Concorde?' to which almost all, 97%, of the participants said 'yes'. The remaining 3% who said that they wouldn't like to see supersonic passenger jets make a comeback were asked why, to which the majority (66%) said that they didn't think they were safe and 21% said they thought they'd be 'bad for the environment'.
When asked what their flight time limit was, 35% of the respondents said they refused to travel anywhere with a flight time of five hours or more; ruling out long-distance destinations. All respondents were asked if they would book more long-haul holidays if travel times were considerably shorter, to which 80% said 'yes'.
Respondents were questioned on what, if anything, put them off long distance travel, to which the number one answer emerged as 'travel times' (52%), followed by 'travel anxieties (e.g. fear of flying), an opinion that 34% of the respondents shared.
People were then asked when they thought supersonic passenger jets would make a return to the world's airspace, to which the majority (77%) said that they thought a service of this kind of would be available to the public 'within five years'.
Chris Clarkson, Managing Director of sunshine.co.uk, said the following: "Supersonic passenger jets would make long distance travel so much more appealing. Often, people will be put off the idea of visiting places like the USA, Caribbean and even further afield destinations like Australia due to the travel times; whether it's because they fear flying and don't want to put themselves through such a lengthy trip, or they just don't want the exhaustion of the journey. I think when it comes to supersonic air travel, it's not a matter of if, but when! It does feel somewhat as if we've taken a step back since Concorde stopped operating, so it will be interesting to see what the future holds."