From Frankfurt to Dubai in 90 minutes? Europe enters the hypersonic aircraft race

It has now been two decades since the era of supersonic commercial flight came to an end with the last Concorde landing at an airport in southwest England.

A European startup developing hypersonic aircraft has promised flight times like Frankfurt to Sydney in 4 hours 15 minutes, or Memphis to Dubai in 3 hours 30 minutes.

The Destinus concept is hydrogen-powered flight at more than five times the speed of sound, reducing flight duration to less than a quarter of current commercial air travel.

Headquartered in Switzerland with a team of around 120 employees spread across Spain, France and Germany, Destinus was founded in 2021 but has achieved rapid success. Its two prototypes have made successful test flights and are about to begin hydrogen-powered flight testing. The third prototype – Destinus 3 – is scheduled to make its inaugural flight by the end of the year.

Hydrogen will be Destinus’ fuel of choice due to it being a clean, renewable source of energy, increasingly inexpensive to produce, and capable of helping it achieve its speed and long-term ambitions. Hydrogen-powered aviation is still in its infancy, as hydrogen jet engines are not yet in commercial use. Airbus is developing a hydrogen jet engine that it says will begin flight testing in 2026.

This vehicle will travel a very long distance, and can fly from Europe all the way to Australia at Mach 5. Using kerosene means the craft will become very heavy, while hydrogen is very light in comparison. Hydrogen also has a higher energy density than conventional jet fuel.