New ‘Concorde’ prepares for first supersonic flight
For the very first time on Tuesday.
early next decade.
The flight is expected to last approximately 30 to 45 minutes, as initially stated by Boom, and the test aircraft should reach a cruising velocity of Mach 1.1 in two specially designated supersonic flight lanes near Edwards Air Force base.
Boom Supersonic's jet will be soaring through the skies where, in 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, a feat he first accomplished in the Bell X-1 aircraft, which is now being emulated by their test plane.
The Denver-based company has conducted 11 test flights from last March, with each successive flight reaching gradually higher speeds, including Mach 0.95 in early stages of this month.
The X-1 is one-third the size of the Overture passenger jet, which the company intends to use for people transport. It aims to reach a cruising velocity of Mach 1.7, twice as fast as the current fastest commercial aircraft.
The Overture, expected to accommodate approximately 65 passengers, is reportedly set to cost around £200 million. Boom has secured outline commitments from carriers such as United and American airlines.
Boom is targeting an annual output of 33 planes at its North Carolina factory, which finished construction in June. The company plans to nearly double this production level when a second production line is introduced.
Transitioning the project from testing to service operations will be a significant challenge, necessitating a substantial investment of billions of dollars, encompassing the development of an engine design yet to be created.
Potential competitor Aerion went under in 2021 after key investors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Electric withdrew their backing.
The UK carrier may face a greater challenge in the form of airline pledges to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, as the sector faces increasing pressure to keep pace with the ambitious reductions being achieved by car manufacturers.
Blake Scholl, who set up Boom in 2014, has stated that there's no justification why the Overture shouldn't run on the same sustainable aviation fuel that airlines are relying on to make their regular flights more environmentally friendly.
He estimates there are over 1,000 potential planes on the market, based on the number of business travellers found on routes where demand for supersonic travel is sufficient to increase airline profits.
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