United’s supersonic project readies for takeoff, climate be damned

MIT research says emissions from supersonic travel can be twenty times more harmful for the environment than subsonic emissions. For decades, traveling to London from New York on a supersonic airplane was the ultimate in jet-setting. That era ended abruptly when a rapidly aging Air France Concorde blew up upon takeoff. Since then, elite travelers have had to make do with slower commercial flights or, perhaps, private jets.  That is until America’s largest airline, United, announced recently that it was going supersonic, and would be purchasing 15 sound-barrier-breaking aircraft with…