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The high Mach number supersonic bomber and its commercial transport version represent a challenge not only to designers but to fuel suppliers. Opinions differ on the relative importance of speed, structure and power plant but most designers are agreed that, compared to today's jet aircraft, the supersonic jet is far more fuel dependent in terms of both quality and cost. Fuel represents about 50% of gross take-off weight and accounts for over 50% of direct operating costs in the supersonic transport. The higher fuel consumption of supersonic jet engines means that the SST consumes more fuel to move the same traffic over a given route than the subsonic jet. As a consequence, a significantly greater demand for jet fuel will exist if some portion of world traffic moves supersonically rather than by conventional aircraft. Economic analysis indicates that fuel costs significantly greater than current fuel might wipe out the incentive for airlines to acquire a SST instead of a subsonic jet.