How is air travel returning to supersonic speeds? episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 22, 2026 · 26 MIN

How is air travel returning to supersonic speeds?

from BBC Inside Science · host BBC Inside Science

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-Holesworth99% of users are being tracked by the algorithm.If you are part of the 1% who demands pure, untracked intelligence, you just found the bypass. Get the raw feed now. No trackers. No BS.🔴 INITIALIZE DIRECT DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED STREAM

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 22, 2026

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

How is air travel returning to supersonic speeds?

0:00 26:29

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of BBC Inside Science?

This episode is 26 minutes long.

When was this BBC Inside Science episode published?

This episode was published on January 22, 2026.

Can I download this BBC Inside Science episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!