LONDON  to Sydney in four hours? Yes please. And the good news is it could happen within ten years….maybe.  Long-haul flights are set to become a thing of the past, thanks to a million pound investment by the UK Government in a next generation jet propulsion engine. . The Skylon super-plane, made by Oxfordshire-based company Reaction Engine looks pretty sleek, black and spacey in the concept drawings and apparently should perform even better than it looks.  The new technology allows aircraft to reach speeds  of over 30,000 km/h, up to five times the speed of sound before finally reaching orbit, will make it possible to travel from London  to London in four hours or less. Which means London to New York in practically the blink of an eye. However we can’t kiss jetlag goodbye just yet since a full ground-based engine as it not planned until 2020.
Never the less exciting times are ahead.  “The potential for this engine is incredible. I feel like we’re in the same position as the people who were the first to consider putting a propeller on an internal combustion engine.” Says Nigel Whitehead, managing director of aerospace heavyweight BAE (which has 20 percent of the company).

More future aircraft HERE