A US-made jet successfully achieved supersonic speeds during testing this week, marking the first private venture to do so since the Concorde.
Boom Supersonic confirmed its XB-1 aircraft reached Mach 1.1, roughly 845 mph, on Tuesday while flying at an altitude of approximately 35,000 feet over the Mojave desert in California. Boom’s founder and CEO Blake Scholl says he’s been working for over a decade to reach this point.
Tuesday’s flight marks a dozen successful test flights with the XB-1. The aircraft represents a prototype, roughly a third of the size of the proposed production version. Named ‘Overture,’ the commercial aircraft is expected to hold 64-80 passengers and be able to travel from New York to London, roughly equivalent to flying from Dallas to Honolulu, in just 3.5 hours.
For comparison, it currently takes a typical carrier around 6.5 hours to fly passengers over the Atlantic.
The world once had luxurious, supersonic travel in the Concorde, just what Boom promises to deliver. The Concorde jet first appeared in the United States when it landed in Dallas in 1973. However, the Concorde was criticized for its immense noise disturbance and lofty seat price and eventually retired in 2003.
Conversely, the Overture is expected to be much quieter and cheaper, though it will take slightly longer to cross the pond.
“Compared to Concorde, Overture is ~15 minutes slower over the Atlantic but 75% more affordable,” Scholl wrote on X on January 29.
The recent feat was achieved with a relatively small number of employees. At its peak, Scholl says Boom employed around 240 people. Today, the company only has 140 employees, with just 50 directly working on the XB-1.
Despite the impressive privately funded milestone, some major media publications rejected interview offers from Scholl.
“We offered pre brief interviews to both WSJ and NYT and invited both to come watch the flight. WSJ said supersonic isn’t newsworthy until the full-scale Overture is carrying passengers,” wrote Scholl.
While the aircraft is still in its prototype stage, Boom has already secured 130 preorders from multiple airlines, including Fort Worth-based American Airlines.