Launch date set after first tests on passenger plane that flies double the speed of Concorde

A passenger plane designed to travel twice as fast as Concorde has completed its initial tests and a launch date has been set.

A Chinese plane designed by Space Transportation travels at double the speed of the now moth-balled European jet and has now completed its testing. Space Transportation says it aims to have a full-size supersonic passenger jet ready for its maiden flight in 2027.

According to if the passenger jet was travelling at speeds of 3,000mph, it could potentially fly between London and in as little as 1.5 hours. The Chinese company's prototype passenger plane was tested and could travel at Mach 4. The company, which is headquartered in Beijing, announced last week that its Yunxing prototype had successfully completed the test flight.

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A follow-up assessment of the plane's engine technology will now take place in November. According to the company, that aircraft will be able to whisk passengers from to New York in about two hours. In flight, it would also cruise at more than four times the speed of sound.

The last civilian supersonic jet was the Concorde, developed jointly by French and British aerospace companies. It entered service in 1976, cruising at twice the speed of sound until it was retired in 2003. Space Transportation is not the only company working to develop supersonic travel. and its partners are looking at some options for high-speed air travel, starting with commercial supersonic flight over land.

In August, NASA's team continued to test the X-59 — an experimental plane that will fly faster than the speed of sound without a loud sonic boom. The plane will be the first of its kind to fly, with the goal of gathering sound date for NASA's Quesst Mission, which could lead to commercial supersonic overland flights in the future.

In July, technology firm Boom Supersonic — the company claiming to build the world’s fastest airliner — announced that they had made significant progress across its engine programmes for supersonic planes. Overture, dubbed by the firms as the world's fastest airliner, is currently being developed and when finished, is optimised to run on, up to 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel. The company's Symphony engine will enable supersonic flight.

“Passengers and airlines are hungry for supersonic flight,” said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. “Following XB-1’s successful test flight, we’re accelerating ... Our Symphony engine has quickly progressed through design into hardware rig testing, and with a fully operational engine core on track for next year, our rapid development approach is pacing ahead of schedule.”