Remember the excitement of Concorde?  Flying from London to New York in no time, breaking the sound barrier - oh the glamour, the excitement. Even if inside Concorde was about the size of a cigar tube.

Well one engineering firm may be bring sexy supersonic back. BA grounded Concorde in 2003 but there is still hope a lucky few will fly the Atlantic at super-speed once more.
Boston-based engineering firm Spike Aerospace has plans to develop Spike S-512, a 12-18 seater supersonic private jet they say is capable of flying from New York to London in under four hours - that's about half the time taken by current commercial flights.

Your average commercial jet flies at Mach 0.85 (567mph) and Spike S-512 is predicted to reach speeds of Mach 1.6-1.8 (1,060-1,200mph) - satisfyingly breaking the sound barrier as sound, we are reliably informed, travels at a speed of about 768mph at sea level.

 

America's Federal Aviation Administration currently prohibits supersonic flight over land so you may just have to head away from New York and towards a private tropical island instead.

The aircraft is scheduled to take off in late 2018. If you want to place an order now expect to pay up to $80million (£49million)
In the jet stream of Spike is HyperMach Aerospace who claim their plane, SonicStar when perfected could travel from London to Sydney in an afternoon - but you'll have to wait until 2025 for a ride.