◼ TECHNOLOGY21PHOTOGRAPHS
BY
BENJAMIN
RASMUSSEN
FOR
BLOOMBERG
BUSINESSWEEK.
DATA:
COMPILED
BY
BLOOMBERG
For the first time, an independent company
has built a supersonic jet and plotted a reasonable
path toward a not-so-distant future full of overseas
routes to many of the world’s major cities. Even
still, it will take at least until the end of this decade
to move plans from the drawing board to the com-
mercial production line—and that’s without any
major mishaps. The hope is that, by then, demand
for air travel will have long rebounded after this
year’s steep declines because of the coronavirus
pandemic. “Six years ago, I didn’t think we had
great odds of ever getting here,” says Scholl, 39.
“It took longer than I thought it would, but it actu-
ally happened.”
Built out of carbon fiber, the sleek white and
black craft resembles a fighter jet more than a pas-
senger transport. The 71-foot XB-1 will start mak-
ing its first flights early next year, reaching a speed
of Mach 1.3 before going even faster as testing pro-
gresses. If all goes well, Boom will turn its focus in
late 2021 to completing the design of its first com-
mercial plane, dubbed Overture.
The 199-foot Overture will get the blood of
businesspeople and travel enthusiasts pumping
as they picture a thrombosis-free future. The jet
willcarry 65 to 88 passengers,withroomyseats
oneithersideoftheplaneseparatedbya walk-
way,meaningeveryonegetsa windowandanaisle
seat,ideallyatbusiness-classprices.
Butthejet’sbestfeatureisspeed:Itwillfly
twiceasfastastoday’stypicalcommercialplanes.
ThetimetogofromNewYorktoLondonwill
fallfrom 6 ½hoursto 3 ½ hours. San Francisco
to Tokyo will drop from 10 hours and 15 minutes
to 6 hours. Where the Concorde had only a few
routes, Overture should be able to fly to and from
most major cities, with an early focus on coastal
hubs. (U.S. regulations prevent Boom from flying at
supersonic speed over land largely because of the
sonic boom created by the craft, though lawmak-
ers and regulators in the past couple of years have
been considering loosening the rules.)
The biggest downside to Overture is that it won’t
begin carrying paying customers until at least 2029,
as Boom faces years more of engineering, testing,
and regulatory hurdles. That said, the company has
already made it further than most people expected,
outpacing such competitors as Aerion Supersonic,
Spike Aerospace, and Virgin Galactic on a num-
ber of fronts. Boom appears poised to inject new
life into an industry that consumers have grown to
despise. And, while it’s tough to pitch a new plane
during a pandemic that’s grounded so many, the
idea of spending less time on a more comfortable
aircraft has as much appeal now as ever.Based just outside Denver, Boom, which has
raised $160 million, has made a flurry of announce-
ments before the XB-1 unveiling. In July it said it
will work with Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc on the
engines for Overture. And in September, Boom
said a contract with the U.S. Air Force will go
toward creating a custom version of Overture for
“Air Force executive transport.” In other words,
the U.S. president may one day be blasting around
the country and world in a Boom-built Air Force
One. And Japan Airlines Co. and Virgin Group have
placed preorders for dozens of Overtures.
The only thing holding Boom back at this point
is, well, reality. The Concorde, which stopped fly-
ing in 2003, suffered from numerous issues, includ-
ing a crash and dwindling passenger numbers,
which made it too expensive to operate. The fail-
ure of the Concorde left so much emotional scar-
ring on the aerospace industry that insiders shied
away from even contemplating a new commercial
supersonic plane. Bringing such a craft to market
would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, if not
billions. And who would take such a risk, given that
a previous experiment went wrong?
The answer has ended up being Scholl and his
backers, who include John Collison, co-founder of
financial technology startup Stripe Inc.; philanthro-
pist Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective;▲ Boom’s XB-1
supersonic jet