Supersonic air travel could make a return to the skies. Almost 20 years after Concorde was grounded, a different supersonic aircraft may soon make a comeback. A firm working on a new supersonic plane that would travel from New York to London in just 3 hours and 40 minutes has suggested that by 2029, passengers could once again enjoy supersonic journeys with flight times far shorter than those offered by current commercial airlines.

You might wonder why it's taken so long for supersonic flight to make a comeback - but a key development has now cleared the path. In June 2025, the United States passed a crucial piece of legislation that lifted the decades-old ban on supersonic travel over land. The new plane - the Overture by Boom Supersonic - is already in testing.

The Overture would travel at Mach 1.7 and twice as fast over water, and United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines have orders and preorders of Overture to fly within their fleets. The plane could hold 60-80 passengers and would cruise much higher than normal passenger jets at 60,000 feet.

The original Concorde faced criticism for its noise levels, but updated models aim to overcome this with modern noise-reduction technology. By 2029, US airline United has announced plans to buy 15 new supersonic airliners and "return supersonic speeds to aviation". The new Overture aircraft will be produced by a Denver-based company called Boom.

The plane will have a minimum of 600 routes, according to Boom.

Speaking on supersonic flights, Nicholas Smith, Holidays Digital Director at Thomas Cook and eSky online travel agency, told Express.co.uk: "While it's thrilling to imagine this aviation icon back in the skies, it's unlikely to appeal to the average holidaymaker from the UK jetting off to Benidorm for a week in the sun.

"We see the future of mainstream air travel heading towards larger, more efficient aircraft designed to carry more people, not fewer.

"That said, a modern relaunch focused on sustainability, digital innovation, and safety could carve out a niche for high-end, short-haul luxury routes - such as London to New York in under four hours. It's not a mass-market solution, but for time-sensitive premium travellers, it could once again become the pinnacle of prestige flying."

Journey times on routes such as London to New York or Los Angeles to Washington could be reduced to just two hours-a considerable drop from the current six to seven hours.