26 January 2021

Hubris Maximus

Well, the SST is trying to make a comeback, this time as business jet. It's an interesting story, especially the assertion that this aircraft/engine combination won't leave a Concorde type sonic boom in its wake.

Beyond holding only a dozen CxO types, it won't fly as fast as Concorde, 'just' 1,000 miles per hour (mach 1.4) vs. Concorde's 1,354 (mach 2.04). Now, why would Big Business choose to spend a boatload of moolah to spirit fat old white men with face lifts around the world?
The craft has a price tag of $120 million, which the planemaker thinks is a price that people will pay because of the time savings.
Time savings? The CxO class spends its time doing what ex-President AuH2O 2020 did/does - "He will make many calls and have many meetings." What with global innterTubes, even at Angels 40, any time in the AS2 should be just as productive a place for calls and meetings as a plush corner suite.
According to Gogo, over 2,500 commercial aircraft and 6,600 business aircraft have been equipped with its onboard Wi-Fi services.
All at a cost of ... in the neighborhood of $70/month; that's airline connection, but a business AS2 would pick from this menu, for as little as $39/hour, of flight one may assume. In summary, then, the CxO class can conduct its calls and meetings while at Angels 40, no matter the aircraft. So, why fly at mach 1.4?

Here's the company's answer:
"We analyzed how business owners fly. We looked at a company out of New York that flew business jets around the world, and when we substitute an AS2 for them and rerun those flights for every person who flew on their airplane, AS2 saved them 142 hours a year."
Wow!! Sign me up fur one a dose dem dings. I gather that those 142 hours are total for all those fat old white guys with facelifts; otherwise the company would have stated that as per fat old white man with face lift, of course.

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