Boom Says Commercial Supersonic Air Travel Will Be Viable Again in 2029
At a global tech conference that required many attendees to spend hours flying to show up in person, the CEO of an unlikely aviation startup pitched the prospect of supersonic commercial air travel.
"One thing hasn't changed in more than six decades, and that's speed,” said Blake Scholl, CEO of Boom Supersonic(Opens in a new window). It was part of a talk he gave on Wednesday at the Collision conference(Opens in a new window) in Toronto recounting how a Boeing 787 of today has about the same top cruising speed as a Boeing 707 of 1962.
Years after the Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde supersonic transport finished its last Mach 2 transatlantic flight in 2003, Denver-based Boom aims to make supersonic travel both environmentally sustainable and economically viable with its Overture jet. That new aircraft, with 65 business-class seats, will fly at Mach 1.7 on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), cutting New York-London flight times to 3.5 hours.
Scholl outlined an ambitious schedule for Overture: groundbreaking later this year for its Greensboro, N.C., factory(Opens in a new window), construction of the first airframe beginning in 2024, a rollout of the first plane in 2025, test flights starting in 2026, and a commercial debut in 2029.
"We look forward to welcoming our first passengers seven years from now,” Scholl said.
If current plans stick, that jet will feature the blue-and-white livery of United Airlines, which last June announced an agreement to buy 15 Overtures “once Overture meets United's demanding safety, operating and sustainability requirements,” plus options to buy 35 more. United CEO Scott Kirby made an appearance via video at Scholl’s talk to say that the airline remains “on track” for that purchase.
United has
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