A startup hoping to build the next Concorde is on track to fly supersonic within weeks
Boom Supersonic
- Boom Supersonic conducted its eighth flight test on Saturday.
- Its CEO said it's on track to fly supersonic by the end of the year.
- The Boom Overture could fly from New York to London twice as fast as conventional airliners.
The return of supersonic commercial flights just got another step closer to reality.
Boom Supersonic announced Saturday that its eighth test flight reached a new maximum altitude of 25,000 feet. It matched the previous test's top speed of Mach 0.82 — slightly faster than the cruising speed of a Boeing 737.
Saturday's test focused on showing the aircraft is still controllable at higher speeds without its stability augmentation system.
Boom is on track to reach supersonic speed, above Mach 1, by the end of the year, CEO Blake Scholl said on X.
Its test flights take place in California's Mojave Desert, with the latest one lasting 54 minutes. They use the XB-1 aircraft, nicknamed the Baby Boom — a one-third-scale demonstrator of its Overture airliner.
The Boom Overture has received 130 orders from customers including United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines.
Saudi Arabia's Neom project has also invested an undisclosed sum.
Overture is planned to fly at Mach 1.7, meaning it could go from Newark to London in three and a half hours. That's about half the time commercial airliners.
It's still slightly slower than Concorde's cruising speed of Mach 2, or 1,350 mph.
Boom Supersonic
But if all goes to plan, passengers could fly supersonic in 2029. Concorde made its final flight in 2003.
Overture would similarly cruise at 60,000 feet, albeit with a slightly smaller capacity of up to 80 passengers.
Boom has faced obstacles over the years. Most notably, it had to design its own engine, called Symphony, after major manufacturers declined to help.
Rolls-Royce had a contract with Boom before deciding it didn't want to prioritize commercial supersonic flight.
Boom partnered with FTT, GE Additive, and StandardAero for the Symphony engine, with the first 40 to be built at a plant in Jupiter, Florida.
In June, it completed construction of its Overture Superfactory in North Carolina. Boom expects its first assembly line will produce 33 supersonic planes a year, with plans to double that.