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Re:Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes by nickff on Monday March 21, 2016 @02:28PM (#11330466)
The Boeing 747 has one of the lowest cost/passenger mile (CPM) of any aircraft, and cruises at Mach 0.85. Different aircraft have been optimized for different speeds, and while it is true that a supersonic aircraft will likely have a higher fuel cost than a comparable subsonic aircraft, the difference may not be as large as we currently think.

There has never been a supersonic passenger aircraft built with modern turbofan engines.

Re:Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes by neurotech1 on Monday March 21, 2016 @03:08PM (#11330868)
The 747 efficiency drops off sharply above M0.85 cruise. I remember reading that the VC-25 (747-200 based) 100% thrust cruise speed is around M0.96 with considerable range penalty. The 747-400 has newer engines but pretty close 100% cruise speed. This is above the approved Mmo for the 747 and not authorized operationally.

Test pilots have reported that a Gulfstream G550 airframe can handle supersonic flight, and the BR710 turbofan engines can handle it. The limit is the engine intake design.

With an optimized intake, its entirely possible the fuel consumption at M2.2 would be comparable to ~M0.98

Re:Boom (YC W16) – Supersonic Passenger Airplanes by trhway on Monday March 21, 2016 @03:21PM (#11330987)
>There has never been a supersonic passenger aircraft built with modern turbofan engines.

that is one of the major issues here. Modern turbofans on large passenger planes like 787, 380, etc... are that efficient in major part because of high by-pass ratio. Which is not really an option for 2Mach+ speed.

As somebody mentioned, more comfortable 0.85Mach flight would be preferable in many situations to uncomfortable and very expensive 2Mach. If i were starting something like this i'd go straight for suborbital SFO to Singapore in under couple hours. Technology-level wise not that different, money is no issue in that segment (Branson's $200K is not that far from super-premium-business class for your priceless CEO) and there is always large money-no-issue fallback customer - military.