The ZEHST will be the world's first hypersonic passenger jet. Picture: AFP
THE world's first hypersonic passenger jet has been unveiled, promising flights from London to Sydney in just three-and-a-half-hours.
Hailed as the new Concord, rocket engines currently used in missiles will propel the plane to speeds of 5029km/h - more than four times the speed of sound, the Daily Mail reports.
But passengers are going to have to wait 40 years for the first commercial flight, say developers EADS.
Dubbed ZEHST - which stands for Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation – the jet will be propelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, meaning its only emission would be water.
It can carrying up to 100 passengers and will use conventional jet engines to launch the aircraft from the airport runway. Once airborne, a pair of rocket engines will be engaged, followed by a final set of engines known as ramjets.
The design was unveiled at the Paris Air Show.
“It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that aerodynamics of the 1960s were already very smart,” Jean Botti, innovation and technology director at EADS, told the Daily Mail.
“We’ve been working on this project for long enough now to know it is viable.”
A model of the ZEHST was unveiled at the Paris Air Show. Picture: AFP