Just over a year after United Airlines invested heavily in the future of aviation by forking out $4 billion for 15 supersonic jets, American Airlines has now made a substantial move toward the renaissance of supersonic travel. Although they’re still years away from actually flying, American Airlines has gone ahead and put down a nonrefundable deposit with Boom Supersonic for up to 20 of its Overture jets with a contract clause for up to 40 additional supersonic jets if needed.
It’s a similar order to what United put down, banking big on the return of supersonic flights which disappeared around two decades ago when Concorde flew its final flight.
As we noted when the news of the United first surfaced, the Overture aircraft from Boom Supersonic is designed to seat between 65 and 88 passengers, all of who will enjoy zipping between destinations at a top speed of Mach 1.7 (2,100 km/h). That effectively slashes most standard travel times by almost half, with the potential for something like Sydney to Los Angeles only taking nine hours compared to the current estimated time of 13 hours and 35 minutes. Other examples include Miami to London in five hours and Los Angeles to Honolulu in three hours.
The Overture jets also align well with the desire to reach zero net emissions in the near future, seeing as they run on 100% sustainable fuel alternatives while cruising at 60,000 feet.
“We are proud to share our vision of a more connected and sustainable world with American Airlines,” said Blake Scholl, Founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic.
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“We believe Overture can help American [Airlines] deepen its competitive advantage on network, loyalty and overall airline preferences through the paradigm-changing benefits of cutting travel times in half.”
According to CBS, when supersonic travel does return it will likely be incredibly cost-prohibitive to most consumers. The publication reports that while one business class ticket on board a supersonic jet would take you from New York to London in three and a half hours, it’ll likely cost between US$4,000 (AU$5,700) and $5,000 (AU$7,150). That’s about 30% more than what it currently costs to fly the same route on a business class ticket.
Both United and American Airlines seem to be jumping the gun when it comes to investing so heavily in supersonic travel. According to the large majority of reports, the Boom Supersonic’s Overture jets aren’t expected to enter commercial service until 2029, and even that’s a fairly ambitious timeline seeing as Boom is yet to lock in an engine manufacturer.
Boom Supersonic also isn’t the only company looking to make supersonic aircraft. There’s also Spike Aerospace, which is reportedly developing an ultra-fast business jet, and an Atlanta-based start-up called Hermeus which is promising a “hypersonic” aircraft that would travel five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). The latter seems like a bit of a stretch, but it’s clear Boom Supersonic isn’t going to be the only player on the market when supersonic travel returns.
How much American Airlines will pay for its order of Boom Supersonic Overture jets has not yet been revealed. United Airlines invested around $4 billion for 15 jets so the figure would definitely be higher than that. Each Overture jet is valued at around US$200 million (AU$261.25 million), in which case 20 would mean American Airlines is looking at around $5.2 billion for the order.
