Boom Supersonic says the lifting of a 52-year-old ban on civil supersonic flights over the United States ‘unlocks the future of faster and quieter travel’.
The company is seen as having the best chance of succeeding Concorde with supersonic airliners and hopes to deliver passenger planes by the end of the decade. It has been given a big boost by President Donald Trump’s action at the weekend. Trump overturned rules imposed in 1973 that banned supersonic flight over the US out of concerns about noise from the high speed planes flying over the country. That was a blow to Concorde which was limited to subsonic speeds when arriving or departing US and one of many factors in its eventual demise. Denver-based Boom completed a demonstrator flight earlier this year and aims to deliver the 80-seater plane to customers including American Airlines, Japan Airlines and United Airlines by 2030. The plane is aimed at the business market and could cut the time of trans-Atlantic trips in half but its current planned range would make trans-Pacific trips a one stop flight to places such as New Zealand and Australia. In 2022 UA announced it would buy 15 of Boom’s ‘Overture’ aircraft with an option for an additional 35 aircraft. The White House said advances in aerospace engineering, materials science and noise reduction now make supersonic flight not just possible but safe, sustainable and commercially viable. ‘’For more than 50 years outdated and overly restrictive regulations have grounded the promise of supersonic flight.’’ The FAA would establish standards for noise certification.
