[sandworm101]

>> I'm not that special. You're not that special. Your weapon engineer is not that special.

There are a few target markets that are special. Celebs are each unique, their earning power is tied to this uniqueness. Such an aircraft is great if you want to film in the UK but spend your weekends in NY. Much of Concorde's passenger base fit this profile.

Then there are the truly wealthy. There might actually be an environmental argument for them to use this aircraft. Compare it against the carbon footprint of someone flying on Emirates in that airborne apartment they sell on the A380. I'd bet that a semi-normal seat on this rocket will be less carbon intensive than one of those giant first class seats on a slower aircraft. Maybe a few people opting for a less-opulent but far faster option might actually reduce net carbon emissions.

[eptcyka]

As far as the carbon footprint goes, the energy required to move a thing with a given mass scales quadraticly with speed, same goes for overcoming air resistance. However, there could be some novel gains in engineering an engine that isn't dogshit inefficient at low speeds like the Concorde ones were.