The artist’s impression looks like something out of a science fiction film. But a hypersonic passenger plane that could fly to Australia from northern Europe in less than five hours has been designed in Britain. With funding from the European Space Agency, a team of engineers and scientists has come up with the A2, a plane they believe could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000mph.

The A2 plane, designed by engineering company Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire could carry 300 passengers at five times the speed of sound.

The Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies project, backed by the European Space Agency, could see the plane operating within 25 years, the firm’s boss Alan Bond told the Guardian.

“The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia,” he said.

The plane, which at 469 feeet long would be about twice the size of the biggest current jets, could fly non-stop for up to 12,500 miles.

Passengers would have to put up with having no windows, due to problems with heat produced at high speeds. Instead designers may put flat screen televisions where the windows would be, giving the impression of seeing outside.

Fares would be comparable with current first class tickets on standard flights, of around 3,500 pounds.

The flight time from Brussels to Australia would be four hours and 40 minutes. “It sounds incredible by today’s standards but I don’t see why future generations can’t make day trips to Australasia,” he said.

“Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it’s up to the world to decide if it wants it.”

Check out the news item from Bloomberg

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