Chinese company Space Transportation has announced plans to test a hypersonic passenger aircraft capable of transatlantic flights in under an hour. The company aims to introduce the Yunxing aircraft by the end of the decade, achieving speeds of Mach 5 (6,173 km/h), reducing travel time from London to New York to under one hour and from New York to Beijing to under two hours.

The last flight of Concorde, the world’s first supersonic passenger aircraft, took place in 2003, marking the end of an era for transatlantic travel in under three hours. Since then, technological advancements have revived interest in supersonic and hypersonic passenger aircraft, with several companies proposing new designs to revolutionize air travel.

Space Transportation is developing two aircraft:

1. Yunxing – A commercial hypersonic passenger aircraft.

2. Cuantianhou (Flying Monkey) – A spaceplane combining features of conventional airplanes and spacecraft.

The Yunxing hypersonic aircraft recently completed a successful 20-minute test flight of a scaled-down prototype in October. The company plans to launch a pilot version with limited passenger capacity by 2027, achieving speeds of Mach 4 (approximately 5,000 km/h). The ultimate goal is to develop a full-scale aircraft capable of carrying 50 passengers.

The Cuantianhou spaceplane, currently under development, will measure 13 meters in length with a wingspan of 5 meters. Designed for dual purposes, it will facilitate flights within Earth’s atmosphere and missions to China’s space station, transporting equipment and astronauts, known in China as "taikonauts."