It became clear that America would no longer favour supersonic flight, so airlines had no need to invest in them.

ECONOMIST: Air travel

That is critical for flying over America, where supersonic flight is banned because of the noise pollution created by sonic booms.

ECONOMIST: Business jets

As an American resident in Asia for nearly 20 years, I sure hope I live long enough to take at least one supersonic flight.

CNN: Future Summit forum

"We considered over 30 designs and believe that the QSST is the only design that meets all the desired requirements including range, take-off and landing field length, take-off noise, emissions and sufficiently low sonic boom characteristics to enable supersonic flight over land, " he told CNN.

CNN: Bang goes the sonic boom

The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overlord Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47, 000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight.

ENGADGET

The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overload Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47, 000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight.

ENGADGET

In 1968, Russia's TU-144 supersonic airliner made its first flight, several months ahead of the Anglo-French Concorde, which it closely resembled.

CNN: Tuesday,

Fifth-generation aircraft are invisible to radar, have advanced flight and weapons control systems and can cruise at supersonic speeds, officials say.

BBC: India to buy advanced fighter jets from Russia