MAJOR: Russia Revives Commercial Supersonic Flight (VIDEO)

MOSCOW – Resurgence of Russia’s civilian aircraft manufacturing industry continues. The latest Russian aviation product will not just create a cost-effective model that meets comfort requirements but will bring back something the world had not seen since 2003 – commercial supersonic flights. Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov presented the newest Russian prototype, a supersonic passenger airplane, which will be designed and built from scratch.

The last part is especially important because previously, it was going to be based on the Tu-160 strategic bomber. Many thought that it was logical. Russia has repeatedly successfully converted advanced military technologies to civilian production. A different approach was chosen this time. The new airplane will be a small business jet that fully meets the highest standards.

The first commercial supersonic jet was the Russian Tu-144, which first flew in 1968. Since the official introduction of the Tu-144 in 1975, soon followed by the British-French Concorde the next year, commercial supersonic flights were conducted until 2003 when they were canceled. Since then, no supersonic jet was used for commercial purposes.