If the quickest route between two points is a straight line, what's one who is traveling from Boston to Paris and needs to get there soonest to do?
Find a seat on a Cessna Citation X. It's the fastest passenger plane in the world, with a top speed of 700 miles an hour. This Mach 0.92 private business jet carries seven passengers.
In its wake? The Falcon 7X (Mach 0.9; 685 miles an hour), the Gulfstream G550 (Mach 0.887; 675 miles an hour) and the Gulfstream G500 (Mach 0.887; 673 miles an hour), all equipped to carry eight passengers. Mach is a measure of the ratio of the velocity of an object, in this case a plane, to the velocity of sound, which equals Mach 1, or 761.2 miles per hour. Any plane that flies past the speed of sound creates a sonic boom, which often results in a major noise disturbance over close-by areas.
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Before its 2003 retirement, the Concorde was long the shuttle of choice for executives eager to spend as little time as possible en route to Europe and unafraid to shell out thousands for a 3.5-hour trans-Atlantic flight.
"In terms of technology, the Concorde was almost unbelievable--particularly when it debuted in the '60s," says aviation industry attorney Arthur Alan Wolk.
These days, it's primarily private jet flyers benefiting from the fastest flights.
The aforementioned Citation X, for example, can reach 43,000 feet in just 30 minutes. But it's not only speedy: The X comes equipped with amenities that include custom fixtures, leather seating and a high-tech entertainment system.
Gulfstream's fastest private jet, the G550, features wireless LAN and a satellite communications system for telephone calls, plus there's a DVD player, two LCD screens and temperature control within the cabin.
A mass of amenities means these planes don't come cheap. The G550, for example, can run upward of $36 million--billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and the U.S. Air Force both own versions of this particular jet.
But be warned: If you are thinking of shelling out multiple millions for one of these vessels, you might want to hang on to your investment.
That's because it's now possible to take part in private jet timeshares through companies like Trans-Exec Air Service and Marquis Jet. And they're getting ready to make your service even faster with the introduction of new supersonic jets, coming within the next decade.
Randy Brandoff, vice president of marketing for Marquis Jet, which sells private jet rentals in 25-hour blocks for an average of $160,000 per block, says that if supersonic flights save time, increase convenience and ensure safety, his customers will bite.
"A lot of it comes down to time, access and comfort," says Brandoff. "If they know that they're saving everywhere from three to five hours on a round trip, people with the funds are willing to pay."
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