Japan and France to develop new Concorde aircraft
Japan and France will jointly develop a new supersonic commercial aircraft to succeed the retired Concorde, Japan’s trade ministry has said.
The two countries will invest 200 million yen ($1.84 million) per year for research over the next three years to build a passenger plane capable of flying faster than the speed of sound, the ministry revealed.
The cooperation opens the possibility of almost halving the flight time between New York and Tokyo to six hours, on an aircraft with about three times the capacity of Concorde, or 300 seats, according to Japanese media reports.
The ministry said the two sides will try to resolve the difficulties that had plagued Concorde, including jet-engine noise and high fuel consumption.
Japan has successfully tested an engine that can reach speeds of up to mach 5.5, or more than five times the speed of sound.
The French side brings experience from Concorde, the world’s first and only supersonic commercial jet operated by Air France and British Airways, which flew at twice the speed of sound.
Charles Kao
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