Boom Supersonic aims to fly 'anywhere in the world in four hours for $100'
The aviation industry is in crisis, there's a global push to cut carbon emissions, and many of us haven't stepped on a plane or hugged far-flung loved ones in more than a year.<br/>Reviving the supersonic dream that died with Concorde's retirement nearly two decades ago seems, at first, like an outrageous fantasy. The British-French airliner Concorde, one of only two supersonic jets to have operated commercially, flew from 1969 to 2003 and was ludicrously expensive and an environmental disaster. But now a fresh bunch of start-ups are working on supersonic and hypersonic projects. Last October frontrunner Boom Supersonic was the first to roll out an actual honest-to-goodness IRL demonstrator aircraft, the XB1. Piece interviews founder and CEO Blake Scholl about Overture, the Mach 2.2 commercial airliner he wants to get in the air by 2026, and the company's ambitious long-term plans. "Either we fail or we change the world," says Scholl over a video call from Denver, Colorado. There hasn't been any major speed-up in travel times since the Jet Age of the '50s and '60s and his team hopes to change that. "That barrier of time is what keeps us apart. We believe it's deeply important to break the time barrier, more so than the sound barrier."<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/imagelibrary/news/hot-topics/2021-05-18/general/boom-supersonic-aims-to-fly-anywhere-in-the-world-in-four-hours-for-100
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Boom Supersonic aims to fly 'anywhere in the world in four hours for $100'
The aviation industry is in crisis, there's a global push to cut carbon emissions, and many of us haven't stepped on a plane or hugged far-flung loved ones in more than a year.<br/>Reviving the supersonic dream that died with Concorde's retirement nearly two decades ago seems, at first, like an outrageous fantasy. The British-French airliner Concorde, one of only two supersonic jets to have operated commercially, flew from 1969 to 2003 and was ludicrously expensive and an environmental disaster. But now a fresh bunch of start-ups are working on supersonic and hypersonic projects. Last October frontrunner Boom Supersonic was the first to roll out an actual honest-to-goodness IRL demonstrator aircraft, the XB1. Piece interviews founder and CEO Blake Scholl about Overture, the Mach 2.2 commercial airliner he wants to get in the air by 2026, and the company's ambitious long-term plans. "Either we fail or we change the world," says Scholl over a video call from Denver, Colorado. There hasn't been any major speed-up in travel times since the Jet Age of the '50s and '60s and his team hopes to change that. "That barrier of time is what keeps us apart. We believe it's deeply important to break the time barrier, more so than the sound barrier."<br/>
