SUPERSONIC: A safer, cheaper and twice-the-speed-of-sound way to fly is in the offing. Boom Supersonic’s next-generation passenger jet is planned to seat 65 to 85 people and designed to fly up to Mach 2.2 (more than twice the speed of sound). Its long-term aim: Fly anywhere in the world in four hours for just $100, or at today's business-class fares.
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RANGE: The supersonic aircraft, called Overture, will have a range of 4,500 nmi (8,334 km) and aims to disrupt air travel, by making high-speed flights “mainstream”. It is planned to be introduced by 2030, but tests on prototypes are currently in progress. Mach 1, the speed of sound, is equivalent to 1,234.8 km/hr. Mach 2.2 is equivalent to 2,716.56 km/h, or 45.2 m/s.
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BACKERS: The new aircraft is being developed by US start-up Boom Technology, Inc. (also known as Boom Supersonic), an ambitious company founded in 2014 and is based in Centennial Airport, Dove Valley, Colorado. The company currently employs 150 people.
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VENTURE CAPITAL: The company was incubated by Y Combinator in 2016, raised $51 million of venture capital in 2017, and a further $100 million by January 2019. Among its backers are Y Combinator, Sam Altman, Seraph Group, Eight Partners, Japan Airlines and others.
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FLIGHT TESTING IN 2021: The Boom XB-1 Baby Boom, a one-third-scale demonstrator, is expected to begin flight testing this year (2021). It is designed to fly at Mach 2.2 (2,300 km/h) and carry 55 passengers for up to 8,300 km. The first commercial jet is set to be introduced in 2030, called the Boom Overture.
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BABY BOOM: The Boom XB-1, also known as “Baby Boom”, is a prototype of a planned, 65-seat airliner that will fly in 202. The one-third-scale XB-1 trijet supersonic demonstrator forms part of development of the Boom Overture supersonic transport airliner. It is planned to maintain Mach 2.2, with over 1,000 nmi of range.
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ELDER SIBLING: Boom Supersonic eventually wants to fly better, cheaper, safer — and faster — than Concorde, which flew up to 2,179 km/h (1,250 miles per hour). The Concorde, with seating for 92 to 128 passengers, flew from New York City to London in less than three 3 hours — averaging 1,250 miles per hour, or about Mach 2.04. Photo shows Concorde 216, the last aircraft of its type to be built.
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AGE OF THE CONCORDE: The Concorde is a British–French turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner operated from 1976 until 2003. BA operated its last commercial Concorde flight on October 24, 2003, from New York's JFK to London Heathrow. 20 Concordes were produced from 1965 to 1979. Boom seeks to restore the age of the Concorde, but “bigger, better, and more sustainable”.
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PICKING UP FROM WHERE CONCORDE LEFT OFF: The Concorde was discontinued as it was extremely expensive to operate, restricting flight availability. It was also too noisy. Concorde was a technological marvel, but a financial disaster. With fares of more than $9,000 for a trans-Atlantic round trip, it was well above the first-class fare on a regular passenger jet, and remained a luxury for a wealthy few.
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NEW AIRCRAFT: Boom Supersonic has set its sights on one of the most ambitious tasks taken on by a startup: revive high-speed flight started off by the Concorde, with a supersonic airliner that will make the world dramatically more accessible.
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FACILITIES: Boom’s facilities occupy a hangar on an airfield that hosts a number of aviation companies. Inside the facility is the full-scale mock-up of Boom’s XB-1 demonstration prototype. XB-1 will be a human-piloted, smaller (1:3) version of the commercial passenger jet it plans to build, fly and sell to airlines around the world in the future.
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LOFTY AMBITION: Boom is pursuing its goal of creating a Concorde-like supersonic passenger jet that can operate at costs comparable to business class travel on regular planes today; Concorde tickets cost much more than that — and in the end operating the jets was simply too expensive for airlines.
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ENGINE: Boom’s Overture is designed to be powered by three 15,000–20,000 lbf (67–89 kN) engines without afterburners, with shorter maintenance intervals than subsonic jets. GE manufacturers the J85-15 engines that will power Boom's XB-1, the aircraft which the company is developing to demonstrate Overture.
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COLLABORATION: In August 2020, Boom and Rolls-Royce announced a collaboration to advance Overture's engine program design.
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PROFITABILITY: How can Boom Supersonic do better now than Concorde? Blake Scholl, the founder and CEO, says times have changed. The Concorde was designed in the 1960s using slide rules and wind tunnels. Boom’s Overture is being modelled in software and built out of ultralight materials, using ultra-efficient jet engines. That should reduce the consumption of fuel per passenger-mile well below the Concorde’s rate, low enough to make possible fares no more than today’s business class.
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CHALLENGE: “The greatest challenge — it’s not technology,” says Boom CEO Blake Scholl. “It’s not that people don’t want them. And it’s not that the money isn’t out there. It’s the complex execution, and it’s getting the right people together to do it, building a startup in an industry that doesn’t usually have startups.”
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GAME-CHANGING TECH: In bringing supersonic flight back to the skies, Boom’s execution plan is to bring game-changing technology that would redefine commercial flight. “We’re confident we’re gonna have our first passengers by the end of the decade (2030)”, said CEO Blake Scholl. Japan Airlines has already pre-ordered 20 Boom Overture aircraft.
Image Credit: Screengrab / Boom
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ROUTES: Boom’s CEO Scholl says there are at least 500 routes on the planet that needs supersonic service. “If we had a warehouse full of Overtures. “As soon as we recover (from COVID), 1,000+ airplanes just to take passengers flying business class today and routes where we can give a big speed-up. To put that in context, we’re gonna need more Overtures, than Boeing has made 787s.”
Image Credit: Screengrab / Boom / Gulf News
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