A startup wants to revive the era of the supersonic Concorde for the generations of flyers that missed out — but without the noisy boom and expensive ticket prices.
Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl explained to Business Insider how his company’s future “Overture” airliner would look and operate compared to the iconic Concorde.
He said Overture’s airframe, cabin, and avionics have been developed to improve efficiency and safety, and Boom plans to build its own homegrown supersonic engine capable of running off biofuels.
The company also recently announced progress in its intention to operate Mach-speed flights over land without the sonic boom reaching the ground.
This “Boomless Cruise” could help Overture achieve a feat Concorde never could — assuming regulators allow it.
“We didn’t invent anything,” Scholl said. “Concorde proved you can fly a supersonic airplane with passengers on it half a century ago. The job of the Overture is to do it economically.”
An advanced airframe with no moveable nose
The Concorde — which was an expensive government project between the UK and France — first flew nearly 50 years ago but retired in 2003 after a deadly crash.
Boom, a private company, will take Concorde’s proven ideas and apply modern designs to improve efficiency and safety. Passenger flights are expected to begin in 2029.
Overture kept Concorde’s Delta-wing design that minimizes aerodynamic “wave drag” at high speeds — meaning the basic airframes look similar. Wave drag results from shock waves forming around an airplane, decreasing efficiency.
Scholl said Boom has changed Overture’s fuselage materials and shape to make it 20% more aerodynamically efficient than its predecessor.
“We can design a very efficient shape with [wind tunnel] simulation,” he said. “The whole thing is accurate to the width of a human hair across a 70-foot fuselage.”
Scholl added Overture’s carbon fiber composite is lighter-weight than the Concorde’s aluminum materials, saving fuel.
Overture also ditches the moveable nose, a staple of the Concorde design that helped pilots see out the front windshield when traversing airports.
Scholl said Overture would replace that with an “augmented reality vision system” powered by two cameras on the landing gear, which has already been successfully demonstrated on Boom’s XB-1 prototype.
“The pilot gets a virtual window through the nose,” he said. “It’s much lighter, much more efficient, much more reliable than mechanical equipment, and gives the pilots a much better view than any kind of traditional windscreen.”
Boom is building its own engine
Boom’s homegrown turbofan engine, Symphony, is being built to propel Overture between New York and London in less than four hours or between Seattle and Tokyo in less than five.
They’re expected to run at a maximum Mach 1.7 — slower than Concorde’s Mach 2.04.
The company decided to build its own engine, which is expected to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuels, after major manufacturers declined to help.
Scholl said the four engines would sit under the wings — making them easily accessible for maintenance — and be 20% more fuel efficient than those on the Concorde. The Concorde also had four engines but used turbojets instead of more efficient and quieter turbofans.
“This is not a new technology, it’s the kind of engine that’s been around since the 1940s,” Scholl said. “What we’re doing is building the first turbofan that is designed to fit a supersonic airliner perfectly.”
He added that Symphony won’t need the afterburners that are common in supersonic engines. This would make Overture’s engine more efficient at high speeds, require less maintenance, and be more noise-friendly to airport communities.
Possible supersonic flights over land
One of Boom’s biggest challenges is flying supersonic over land without producing a disruptive sonic boom. Regulators restricted Concorde’s Mach-speed flying to only over oceans because of this.
Scholl initially said eliminating the noisy overland boom would be a focus of later versions of Overture.
However, the company’s recent Boomless Cruise findings — which explored a physics concept called “Mach cutoff” that refracts the boom and dissipates it before hitting the ground — may pave the way for a quicker rollout.
“This allows Boom to reexamine the possibilities of Overture quietly breaking the sound barrier over land,” a spokesperson told BI, adding that data was collected and evaluated via XB-1’s supersonic flights.
Boom’s push for supersonic overland flights has the backing of Elon Musk, who said the Trump Administration would “get rid of all regulations that make no sense, like this one.”
If the law is amended, Boom could offer domestic Mach-speed travel for the first time.
Lower airfare and a taller cabin
Boom’s plan to eliminate the high costs associated with the Concorde may bring down supersonic ticket prices — making the jet more affordable for airlines and customers.
Scholl said business fares would hover around $5,000 roundtrip instead of the Concorde’s up to $20,000 — and that’s with fewer seats onboard to sell.
“It’s not yet for everybody, but the top 20% of flyers are already at that price point today,” he said. “That’s tens of millions of people, so for the same price point, you’d be able to get there in half the time.”
Boom has secured 130 Overture orders from carriers like American Airlines and United Airlines, and Scholl said they’d boast a better cabin than what British Airways and Air France fit on the Concorde.
Specifically, Boom’s airliner is designed to have between 64 and 80 seats, instead of up to 128 on Concorde — offering more space to travelers. The seats are expected to be innovated for comfort.
The Concorde was infamous for its low door and ceiling. Scholl said Overture’s entry door would be 10 inches taller.
“That’s an inch taller than [the door] on a Boeing 737,” he said. “Unless you’re LeBron James, you won’t have to duck to get on.”
The post A startup says it can fly supersonic without the noisy boom. Here’s how its airliner would compare to the famous Concorde. appeared first on Business Insider.
