Second US airline orders supersonic planes

American Airlines has ordered twenty supersonic aircraft from aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic. The aircraft is still in development and could reach speeds of Mach 1.7 and carry up to 80 passengers.

American Airlines isn’t the first airline to knock on Boom Supersonic’s door to buy a supersonic plane, as United Airlines did just that last year. That airline ordered fifty copies of the Boom Overture, the same supersonic aircraft that will be delivered in 2029 and for which American Airlines has now put an advance on the table that can no longer be refunded.

Like United Airlines, the Boom Overture supersonic plane will fly at Mach 1.7 and carry between 65 and 80 passengers. A supersonic flight from New York City to London would take about 3.5 hours, according to Blake Scholl, the CEO of Boom Supersonic. With conventional aircraft, such a flight takes about 6.5 hours. The prices of the plane tickets would fluctuate between four and five thousand dollars, although United Airlines said last year when announcing its order that it was still too early to talk about prices.

Based on information that on the Boom Supersonic website can be found, production of the aircraft will start in 2024. Work is currently underway on the factory(s) where the supersonic aircraft will be built. A first test flight should follow in 2026 and the first passenger flights will be carried out in 2029. According to the American ABC News Boom Supersonic has not yet found a manufacturer for the supersonic motor. It is still in talks with manufacturers, including Rolls-Royce.

The Boom Supersonic is 62 meters long, will fly at an altitude of 60,000 feet, or about 18 kilometers with ecological fuel. The device will be slightly slower than the Concorde which could reach Mach 2.04, or 2180 km/h. That supersonic plane flew around the world at supersonic speeds on a commercial basis between 1976 and 2003.