Supersonic commercial air travel is coming back
Boom Overture supersonic jet concept
The newest big thing could change the industry forever. As we hopefully head out of the pandemic, air travel has begun to change in sometimes small and sometimes very big ways. Let’s explore in a series of articles the technological challenges facing the second generation SST aircraft being developed and tested this decade.
Supersonic commercial air travel is, according to aerospace startup Boom Supersonic, coming to airports near you in the future, with commercial flights expected by 2029.
United Airlines has announced it will purchase up to 50 Boom Overture supersonic jets for commercial use by 2029, heralding the return of supersonic passenger flights nearly 20 years after the Concorde was decommissioned.
What is supersonic travel? It’s not a new technology, like Virgin Galactic’s and Amazon founder Jeff Bezo’s reusable rockets.
Supersonic flights, which travel at speed faster than the speed of sound itself, have been around since the 1970s with Concorde SST crossing the Atlantic daily from 1976 until its retirement in 2003. Ever since Air France and British Airways retired their money-losing supersonic Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound, or 1,350 mph, 2,200 kph) Concorde, airliners have generally stuck to top speeds of around 600 miles per hour, or Mach 0.85 (85% of the speed of sound, or supersonic).
Flying Concorde was more expensive than flying First Class. According to Reuters, the new startup is aiming at making supersonic air travel accessible for all, not just those who can afford an astronomical price to shave off some hours in the air. Boom SST with its 21st century technologies will be much more fuel efficient than Concorde ever was. Its first next generation SST jet, the Boom Overture, will one day be able to fly between New York and London in three and a half hours and between San Francisco and Tokyo in only six hours with one refueling stop at a fraction of the cost.
In 2018 a preliminary assessment of the environmental performance of new commercial SSTs was released using Boom’s design as a reference point. The analysis suggests that a representative commercial SST could burn 5 to 7 times as much fuel per passenger as comparable subsonic aircraft on common routes. When broken down by seating class, the SST burned about 3 times as much fuel per passenger compared to new subsonic business class.
In response, Boom Supersonic founder and chief executive Blake Scholl stated that the group’s planes “will see overall fuel burn at parity” with current business-class travel. Mr. Scholl declined to provide further information about this calculation. The startup has gained quite a lot of traction; while its factory will be built in 2022, it has already partnered with United Airlines to provide fifteen of its planes for use when they are approved by the FAA.
This partnership is created in part to help the airline satisfy its push to become more sustainable, as Boom Supersonic’s planes will be operated with completely sustainable fuel, with no carbon emissions. According to the company, its fuel will instead use carbon harvested from the atmosphere.
Blake Scholl, chief executive and founder of Boom Supersonic, told Reuters: “You know our ultimate goal is high speed flight for everybody. To make the fastest flight also the most affordable…that is what we are going to see happen here. Supersonic flight is going to displace subsonic flight as the best way for everyone to travel over long distances.”
It will begin test flights on a smaller model of its Overture planes in 2022, while its to-scale planes will begin testing in 2025 for approval by 2029.
Back in 2020, the FAA had begun developing new regulations and standards for supersonic aircraft, seemingly in preparation for Boom Supersonic’s and other companies’ planes, introducing things like new noise standards, as supersonic planes are known for being loud as they break the sound barrier. These new regulations apply for any aircraft traveling a maximum of Mach 1.8, or 1,381 miles per hour.
It is possible that supersonic air travel will become the main method of air travel in the future. As more airlines push to become more sustainable, and as the demand for faster travel grows, more airlines could partner with Boom Supersonic or other aerospace companies to provide new, greener and faster planes.
For more information, please see our other articles: Supersonic.