A startup wants to fly passengers in its supersonic plane by 2029, but high costs and unproven technology have some experts raising their eyebrows

03.04.2024 - 19:31 / insider.com / United Airlines

Colorado aerospace company Boom Supersonic is building the world's latest faster-than-sound passenger plane, called the Overture.

Humans haven't experienced supersonic commercial air travel since the famous Concorde retired in 2003. The jet could rocket across the Atlantic in less than four hours at speeds up to 1,340 mph but was retired due to expensive operating costs and a high-profile crash.

Twenty-one years later, Boom celebrated the "return of a civil supersonic aircraft to the skies" when it flew its first prototype in March 2023.

The XB-1 "baby boom" — created to test supersonic-specific flight technologies — zoomed for 12 minutes at speeds reaching 273 mph and altitudes up to 7,120 feet.

The tinier jet's performance represents just a fraction of what Boom's $200 million plane is expected to fly. The company expects regulatory approvals for passenger flights in the Mach-1.7 jet by 2029 and has already garnered 130 orders from carriers, including American Airlines, Japan Airlines, and United Airlines.

That timeline has some aviation experts raising their eyebrows, given the tricky commercial market for such a service.

"We recognize this target timeline is ambitious, but we challenge ourselves and our suppliers, who share our vision for a sustainable, supersonic future, to meet ambitious goals," Boom told BI, noting it will "actively assess" its schedule as the program moves forward.

University of Illinois aerospace engineering professor Michael Bragg told Business Insider that high costs and overland flight restrictions because of sonic booms could hinder the production and certification of Overture

He estimated Boom's plane would likely cost less to operate than the Concorde, but would still struggle to find people willing to pay the high ticket price. Seats on the Concorde went for around $12,000 round trip in the 1970's, according to Simple Flying.

"I'm surprised Boom is pushing toward the commercial airline market," Bragg told BI. "10 or 15 years ago, the focus was more on corporate jets because it's less cost-sensitive. Perhaps there's a larger market in commercial — there would be if Boom can get the cost down."

There's also the challenge of the sonic boom, Bragg said. US law presently bans all supersonic flight over land due to the noise, he explained, meaning Mach-speed planes can only fly over water until that is changed.

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Bragg said a supersonic plane would be much more effective if it could be used on cross-country flights rather than just transoceanic.

"If you aren't able to accomplish that, then making it financially is going to be much more difficult," Bragg said.

Boom told Business Insider in an emailed statement that the company has identified "more than