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Why hasn't commercial air travel gotten any faster since the 1960s? (2009)

Related Questions - How does an airplane stop on a runway after landing? - Can I make my car fly? - How does an aircraft steer while taxiing on a runway? - What is the relationship between the length of a boat and its maximum speed? - Can robotic submarines collect specimens at any ocean depth? - Why don’t spacecraft burn up or veer off course during reentry from space? - How can a person ride a motorcycle 100 mph but not stand up in a 100 mph wind? - Can a honeybee cause a sonic boom if it travels fast enough? - What’s the difference between a motor and an engine? - Why does traffic bottleneck on freeways for no apparent reason? Why hasn’t commercial air travel gotten any faster since the 1960s? In an era when everything else is accelerating, airplanes are actually flying at slower speeds than they used to…By Peter Dunn Specified cruising speeds for commercial airliners today range between about 480 and 510 knots, compared to 525 knots for the Boeing 707, a mainstay of 1960s jet travel. Why? “The main issue is fuel economy,” says aeronautics and astronautics professor Mark Drela.

Observant fliers can easily spot these engines, with air intakes nearly 10 feet across, especially on newer long-range two-engine jetliners. Product of a treaty between the British and French governments, the Concorde served a small high-end market and was severely constrained in where it could fly. Their smaller size and creative new “boom-shaping” designs could reduce or eliminate the noise, and Drela notes that supersonic flight’s higher fuel burn per passenger-mile will be less of an issue for private operators than airlines.

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