Can Uniteds New Boom Deal Bring Supersonic Flight Back?
Through a new partnership with United Airlines, aerospace company Boom is hoping to bring back high-speed air travel nearly 20 years after the supersonic Concorde jet took its last commercial passenger flight. share this article  Earlier this month, United Airlines made a surprise announcement when it pledged to purchase a fleet of supersonic aircraft from Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic. United has committed $3 billion for 15 of Booms Overture airliners with an option to buy an additional 35 planes once theyre built (for a total of 50). This is the first U.S. commercial airline to verbally commit to Boom after Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group and Japan Airlines preordered their own supersonic, all-business-class jets in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The Overture jetswhich first debuted as concept drawings and wooden mock-ups in 2016promise speeds of Mach 1.7, just slightly shy of 1,500 miles per hour. Flying at 60,000 feet (double that of todays major airline flights), the 88 passengers aboard each plane would get curving views of the globe below (because its so much higher up, you can literally see the curvature of the Earth). Time is a luxury, and this announcement promises some enviable, greatly reduced travel timesimagine flying from San Francisco to Tokyo in six hours (versus the current average of 10), and from New York City to London in only three (compared to the approximately six hours it takes now). Where Booms previous partnerships stand isnt totally clear, but according to the company, Overtures order book is currently at 70 aircraft, including purchases and options. And the construction timeline for United is ambitious. According to Booms estimates, the first United supersonic planes will be built by 2025, and the first passengers will be able to board as early as 2029. Boom has also committed to operating on 100-percent sustainable aviation fueljet fuel produced from sustainable sources such as plant oils, municipal waste, and agricultural residue that generates up to 80 percent fewer carbon emissions than conventional fossil fuelbased jet fuel. While promising, the news comes as somewhat of a surprise, not least because we are only just beginning to tiptoe out of a global pandemic that financially decimated the airline industry. Article continues below advertisement  The United supersonic announcement was definitely out of left field, says Henry Harteveldt, an analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, a market research firm focused on the airline industry. Harteveldt is among the skeptics. We did not expect it from this major airline, especially since a year ago, they, along with all the others, were begging for government aid. According to Uniteds vice president of corporate development, Mike Leskinsen, theres appeal for the airlinejust as there is for passengersto get somewhere faster. Also, theres opportunity to reduce fliers carbon footprint. If we can cut the time to fly from the East Coast of the U.S. to certain cities in Europe and do it with lower emissions, we think thats very attractive, Leskinsen said in a recent interview with CNBC. The Concorde was the worlds first and only commercial supersonic plane. Developed in the 1970s and flying across the Atlantic at similarly record rates, it officially retired in 2003, after the tragic crash of Air France Flight 459 in July 2000 and prohibitively expensive operation costs. But Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl notes that one big difference between the Concorde and his companys supersonic aircraft is that Boom is building with an eye toward ultimately making high-speed air travel available to the masses. In aerospace, we have a sad history of glory projects driven by national prestige politics, Scholl writes on the Boom website. In 1969, we flew Concorde for the first time and landed a man on the moon. Fifty years later, moon rockets and supersonic airliners are found in our museums, not the sky. Courtesy of Boom Supersonic A rendering of the Overtures passenger space Instead, Scholls vision for Boom is supersonic travel that is affordable for passengers, profitable for airlines, and capable of reaching economies of scale with tens of millions of passengers. To do so, Scholl writes that Boom is working to ensure that the company is a sustainable, money-making endeavor that can fund future innovation. It also means designing the aircraft to be quiet so airport communities will happily welcome it. And building in support for low-net-carbon alternative fuels, so we can be proud to operate Overture as an environmentally-sustainable airliner, he adds. One of the main concerns of supersonic air travel is the sonic boom that happens when planes break the speed of sound. Imagine the noise a fighter jet makes. Now, imagine something even louder, happening over your house every hour. Booms goal is to solve the challenge of the sonic boom. Article continues below advertisement