Euromonitor International and World Travel Market London are pleased to unveil one of nine key emerging travel trends identified by the WTM Global Trends Report 2016, which will be released on Tuesday 8 November at London Excel Centre.
Holidaymakers might be able to fly from the UK to the US in just three hours in the near future as supersonic flights make a return. The cutting-edge technology will soon be cutting flight times on popular routes and opening up new long-haul destinations. Concorde, the first supersonic passenger jet, retired from service in 2003, following the tragedies of the Paris crash in 2000 and the September 11 attacks in 2001.
But a new generation of supersonic aircraft is ready for take-off, meaning British passengers can reach the Gulf in three hours rather than seven or eight. Thailand would be just five hours away instead of the current 11-12 hours, while flight times to Australia would fall from about 22 hours to eight or nine hours.
Virgin Group is one of the companies investing in a start-up firm, Boom, which is developing new supersonic aircraft, which fly 2.6 times faster than normal jets. Flights from London to New York can take three hours, with return tickets costing an estimated US$5,000 per person – similar to the cost in business class today.
Euromonitor International, Head of Travel, Caroline Bremner said: “The return of supersonic flights would be transformative, opening up far-flung destinations to holidaymakers and business travellers from the UK. Supersonic travel won’t publicly be available for a couple of years at least, with prototypes not aiming to fly before 2017, but it’s very exciting that so many players are vying to get into the sky – and with fares that are not sky-high.”
Euromonitor International and World Travel Market (WTM) London collaborate for the eleventh year to predict future trends shaping the travel industry in the annual WTM Global Trends Report.
The WTM Global Trends Report will be shared with travel industry players during a free seminar:
Date: Tuesday 8th November
Location: WTM Inspire Theatre
Time: 15.00 – 15.50 GMT
Each session will be followed by a Q&A session with the authors of the WTM Global Trends Report
Caroline Bremner – Head of Travel, Euromonitor International
Nadejda Popova – Travel Project Manager, Travel, Euromonitor International
Wouter Geerts – Analyst, Travel, Euromonitor International
Get the WTM Global Trends Report 2016 http://go.euromonitor.com/WTM-London-2016.html
See complete event information here https://blog.euromonitor.com/2016/08/euromonitor-speak-world-travel-market-wtm.html