Summary

  • Boom Supersonic plans to bring back supersonic travel with their aircraft, the Boom Overture. It can accommodate up to 80 passengers and has a range of 4,250 nautical miles. First flight is planned for 2027.
  • The Boom Overture aims to be a larger and more affordable alternative to Concorde. It will retail for $200 million and has a target market of airline carriers, focusing on routes across oceans.
  • Boom Aerospace has learned from Concorde's flaws and will avoid the problems it faced. The Boom Overture will only focus on profitable routes and burn less fuel, making it more efficient and cost-effective.

It has been a while since commercial aviation waived goodbye to commercial supersonic travel. The retirement of Concorde in 2003 kept the industry wondering if there would ever be another supersonic airliner serving the market. In recent years, Boom Supersonic has shown the light to the world with its plans to bring back an aircraft faster than the speed of sound.

The company is working on its Mach 1.7 aircraft design named the Boom Overture. With the rendered design and the look of it, the Boom Overture is dubbed Concorde 2.0. The aircraft can accommodate up to 80 passengers and can fly a range of 4,250 nautical miles (4,890 miles, 7,870 km). Planning the supersonic’s first flight in 2027, the company believes there is a market for 1,000 supersonic airliners in the coming decades.

A United Airlines Boom Overture flying above the clouds.
Photo: Boom Supersonic

With the initial commitments in and the program remaining on track, the question arises if the Boom Overture will match the capabilities and popularity of Concorde. This article explores the planned capabilities of Boom Overture and how these compare with the iconic Concorde.

What is the Boom Overture?

The Boom Overture is a new aircraft concept under development to bring back supersonic travel to the regular aircraft flyer. Unlike other projects to develop a new supersonic aircraft, only Boom Aerospace is focusing on large passenger numbers and not business jets. Boom Aerospace’s mission statement reads,

“If we can fly twice as fast, the world becomes twice as small, turning far off lands into familiar neighbours.

Currently, they have raised $141m (£107m) in two rounds of funding and are well on their way to building what they have dubbed the ‘Baby Boom,’ a miniature prototype. They aim to fly it this year.

A render of a Boom Supersonic Overture parked at an airport gate.
Photo: Boom Supersonic

The Boom Overture is the next step once they have proven their flight model, building a premium 55-seat airliner, longer and thinner than Concorde, to be sold directly to airline carriers. The aircraft will retail for $200 million and could be ready for market as soon as 2025, as reported by Esquire Magazine.

The 55-seat number was chosen as this is around the average configuration size of a typical business class cabin. According to the CEO of Boom Supersonic, Blade Scholl,

“You’ll be able to fly Overture for a quarter the price of a Concorde ticket, or about the same price you’d pay in business class today. That’s the most important thing."

How does it compare to Concorde?

Concorde, originally built back in the 70s, could carry 100 passengers at Mach 2.1 (1,535 mph / 2,470 km/h) to a range of 3,900 NM (4,488.04 mi / 7,223 km). The new Boom Overture is aiming to have up to 80 seats, fly at Mach 1.7, and fly to a range of up to 4,500 NM (5,179 miles, 8,334 km).

A British Airways Concorde flying in the sky.
Photo: John Selway | Shutterstock

Looking at the numbers above, we can see that Concorde could carry almost double the passengers of the planned Boom Overture. That said, Concorde was only around 80% complete on average.

Comparing range and speed, the new Boom Overture is putting 40 years of research and development to good use by extending the speed and range of the aircraft. Additionally, the Boom Overture will burn less fuel (no afterburners on takeoff) and will be 30 times quieter.

Will Boom be successful where Concorde wasn't?

For one, Boom has taken the time to understand the flaws of Concorde and how they can avoid the associated problems. Concorde was banned from flying supersonic over the continental USA and was only allowed to fly at average jetliner speeds. Due to this, it became way too expensive to operate in certain areas. Boom will only focus on routes across oceans, such as the New York to London route that was profitable for Concorde.

Interested in similar technical content? Check out our complete guides section.

A render of a United Airlines Boom Overture near a hangar.
Photo: Boom Supersonic

So far, Virgin Galactic and Japan Airlines previously gave Boom Aerospace a memorandum of understanding to purchase 30 aircraft. That said, Virgin’s options have since expired, mutually agreed upon with Boom Aerospace. Meanwhile, United Airlines and American Airlines, two of the US big three, have placed firm orders for 15 and 20 examples, respectively.

What are your thoughts on the planned capabilities of Boom Overture? Do you think it would compare to Concorde? Share your opinion in the comments section.

Sources: Esquire Magazine