Boom goes the... supersonic commercial airliner?

Emailed on July 10, 2020 in The Friday Forward

Concorde lovers rejoice, there's a new player in town. Boom Supersonic, the Colorado based aerospace startup, is set to roll out their first scaled prototype of a supersonic commercial jetliner.

Called the XB-1, the prototype is the new test bed for the company's future airliner called Overture, a 50 seat aircraft. While still years away from commercial viability (Overture's expected launch is between 2025 and 2027), the XB-1 is set to take to the sky as soon as this October.

Boom has set their sights on being the fastest commercial offering, with top cruise speeds of Mach 2.2 (1,687 mph). This speed is slightly faster than the now-defunct Concorde, and is expected to fly from New York to London in just over 3 hours. 

Boom is not the only ones eyeing the space, however, with competitors such as Aerion Supersonic and Spike Aerospace also developing supersonic jets. The key difference in these offerings is Boom is focused on commercial air travel while Aerion and Spike are looking at the private plane market.

One thing is for sure, this will be an exciting evolution for aviation, not to mention they look pretty sweet...