How is air travel returning to supersonic speeds?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Science

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003.

What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again?

Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde’s former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Tim Dodd, Kate White, Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	Hello, I'm Greg Jenner, and good news,
0:09.5	Your Dead to Me, is back for a new series.
0:11.6	Here we go.
0:12.1	Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Mary Beard and Patton Oswald.
0:16.9	I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire.
0:21.0	We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dolion with Tom Allen.
0:24.8	I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down.
0:29.1	And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Rihelina.
0:33.0	I'm excited.
0:33.7	You're dead to me.
0:34.5	The comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
0:37.0	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:40.1	50 years ago this week, a new kind of plane sat waiting on the runway at Heathrow. Another sat
0:47.1	waiting on the runway at Charles de Gaulle. Simultaneously, with a roar they took off. One headed for Rio, the other for Bahrain.
0:58.0	Over Paris, Captain Todd, the British Airways pilot,
1:02.0	exchanged good wishes with Captain Shan Juan, his Air France opposite number.
1:08.0	On board, the passengers had smoked salmon, duck, strawberries and of course, champagne.
1:15.6	They watched as on a screen a number inched up, 0.8, 0.9, then over the Mediterranean, it passed one. Mac won.
1:29.3	Concord had gone supersonic.
1:32.3	It was expensive, it was fuel-guzzling, it was glorious.
1:36.3	We are here in Bristol, in England, beside a Concord that once carried Hollywood stars
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.