News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video] by teractiveodular on Tuesday January 28, 2025 @02:41PM (#42856951)
There were enough passengers, and flying the Concorde actually became profitable for the airlines once they figured out they just needed to charge through the nose for it. This was despite prodigious fuel consumption and that fuel becoming much more expensive after the oil crisis.

The main problems were that the requirement to only fly supersonic over water massively limited the possible routes it could fly, and that actually flying in a Concorde was not very comfortable (cramped, tiny windows, hot, vibration etc). Boom promises to tackle both of these, which will open it up to far more routes.

Re:XB-1 First Supersonic Flight [video] by EA-3167 on Tuesday January 28, 2025 @08:36PM (#42860438)
I still don't see this being something large airlines would be overly interested in, but I wonder if there's a private market. If you're Taylor Swift maybe being able to fly from NYC to LA in half the time is well worth it.