Sonic Boom over land avoidance and the impact on economic feasibility

Abstract

There has been renewed interest in commercial supersonic air travel in recent years with a number of new efforts being pursued by several companies. They currently advertise entry into service of these new concepts within the next decade. Current regulations do not permit overland operations for supersonic vehicles due to the sonic booms produced during flight. In order to capture a favorable market share, these vehicles will need to serve routes while abiding with the over land boom restrictions. This study presents a comprehensive approach to overland-prohibited supersonic flight routing and route-specific demand forecasting for commercial supersonic air travel, in order to assess the expected market. This also includes the need for the seasonally dependent need to avoid secondary sonic boom exposure of land.