New World of Supersonic Travel
American Airlines Orders 20 SSTs from Boom Supersonic
Traveling Faster Than the Speed of Sound
Business is booming at the moment for Colorado-based aviation company Boom Supersonic. American Airlines has just joined United and Japan Airlines in placing substantial orders for Boom's Overture SST passenger plane. Overture uniquely flies faster than the speed of sound on ecofriendly Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). American has ordered 20 Overture SSTs with the option of buying 40 more. Boom already has 70 SST orders from United Airlines and Japan Airlines. The SST will enable flights from New York City to London in 3.5 hours as opposed to 5.5 hours currently or Tokyo to Seattle in 4.4 hours rather than the current 8.3 hours. For air travelers, those flight times would be a dream come true.
Tech Specs
Boom is readying for takeoff with a production ready version it just unveiled. Overture has gull-like wings with a contoured fuselage optimized to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. It can carry 80 passengers. It has four medium bypass turbofan engines tucked under the wings. The engines don't have and don't need afterburners which greatly reduces the booming noise associated with the long-retired Concorde SST. Overture is capable of Mach 1.7 or 1,304 mph over water, can reach an altitude of 60,000 feet and has a range of 4,888 miles, which allows it to dramatically cut trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flight times.
Business Prospects
At the moment, Boom's business prospects are superb. The company believes that their innovative aviation technology can service 600 profitable routes around the world. The SST travels two-times faster over water and 20% faster over land at Mach 1. Boom expects commercial flight operations to begin by 2026. For flyers, it offers the promise of cutting flight times nearly in half. For more news stories like this, The Future of Flying
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