Supersonic Flying Returns
As a 6 year old child, I went to London Heathrow with my family to see Concorde's last flight. Its been 18 years since Concorde's last flight and we haven't had supersonic passenger air travel since. That is about to change.
Earlier today (3 June 2021), United Airlines announced it is to purchase 15 aircraft from Boom's ‘Overture’ airliners, once Overture meets United’s demanding safety, operating and sustainability requirements. This order could increase by 35 to bring a total of 50 aircraft.
Source: https://boomsupersonic.com/united
Earlier today (3 June 2021), United Airlines announced it is to purchase 15 aircraft from Boom's ‘Overture’ airliners, once Overture meets United’s demanding safety, operating and sustainability requirements. This order could increase by 35 to bring a total of 50 aircraft.
The current plans are for Overture to rollout in 2025 and conduct its first flight the following year. In 2029, the first passenger supersonic flight should take place after a 26 year hiatus. This time however, the aircraft is proposed to be net-zero carbon and will fly on sustainable aviation fuel.
United Airlines haven't definitively stated where they will fly - but as the aircraft will have a range of 4,250nmi and a cruising altitide of 60,000ft - it is likely to serve business destinations in Europe such as London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle from the US East Coast such as New York Newark and Washington Dulles. Each aircraft will only fly 65 to 88 passengers and fly at Mach 1.7. The flying time between New York Newark and London Heathrow is forecast to be around 3 hours and 30 minutes, approximately half the journey time of today.
Source: https://boomsupersonic.com/united
We have a long way to go before flights take off but this is exciting news none the less. Fares are likely to be at a premium and a non supersonic option will remain. However, seeing aviation look at more sustainable aircraft shows a future to the sector where the environment is becoming an ever more important and influential factor in growth.
What will be intriguing is if other airlines follow suit. There are trials for electric aircraft in Europe at present to launch in the next few years but supersonic air travel is a whole different market. British Airways, Emirates and Singapore Airlines would be my predictions for airlines ordering this aircraft in the future.
Odds of this actually happening are pretty low. Especially on that timeline. Boom has missed every milestone it has ever set and still is many billions of dollars (and an engine option) short of this coming to fruition. It is also now a slower plane with more seats in the same space than previous iterations, so unclear what Boom is really going to deliver, if anything. If it does happen the idea of a fleet of 50 also seems rather far-fetched given the certainty of much higher fares, limited potential routes, and limited demand.
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