Supersonic Flights to Hawaii?
Jun 11, 2021, 9:36 am
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
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I really don't see US West Coast to Hawaii being the ideal market for this. TPAC is another matter entirely. If I can cut a 12 hour flight down to 3, that's different than cutting a 5 hour flight down to 2.5. There's a lot of overhead associated with just taking off and landing and it becomes a much bigger part of the total as the routes get shorter.
Some parts of markets aren't huge in terms of passengers but sometimes you can get enough folks to buy so that the service provider can make it work. As an example, UA used to partner with Los Angeles Airways to provide helicopter service at LAX Terminal 7:
Even now there's a market within the Los Angeles basin for helicopter passenger flights. However, this is more of a bespoke service at this point.
David
Jun 11, 2021, 10:52 am
#17
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Join Date: Nov 1999
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Hawaii Is Asking Tourists to Stop Renting U-Haul Moving Vans As Rental Cars (businessinsider.com)
Jun 11, 2021, 11:33 am
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
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Posts: 31,008
The aerodynamics and engineering dictating the most efficient cruise speed for jets hasn't changed much. 707 cruise was the same or faster than many current high-bypass-turbofan-driven jets. So most of that time savings was probably in the 1950-1970 period, transitioning from the shown B377 Stratocruiser at 300mph to something like the 707 at 550mph (484kt cruise). (777 cruise is 482kt)
Last edited by CPRich; Jun 11, 2021 at 11:40 am