American Airlines deposits money for 20 Boom Supersonic Aircraft.
After American Airlines and BOOM Supersonic signed an agreement for the airline to put down a non-refundable deposit towards the purchase of 20 future supersonic aircraft with the possibility for an additional 40, the future of domestic commercial supersonic travel now appears to be a little brighter.
Concept art for the Overture Boo Supersonic
The renowned Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner’s demise was virtually assured as soon as it entered service in 1973, even though it made its final commercial flight in 2003. Despite the fact that more than 100 orders for the aircraft by major airlines all over the world were submitted to the British Aircraft Corporation/Sud Aviation consortia, all of these orders were non-binding and were cancelled by February 1980 with the exception of 12 aircraft for BOAC and Air France.
This turn of events was caused by a number of factors. Concorde was so innovative and ambitious that it was compared to NASA’s Apollo program. Despite this, Concorde suffered from cost overruns, ferocious anti-enlightenment sentiment, and skyrocketing fuel prices during the Arab Oil Embargo. The loss of every order aside from two national airlines that were required to fly Concorde by their governments was the economic death knell for an airplane that was anticipated to fly the liery of every major international airline. Any one of these was like dropping a cannon all of them into a lifeboat.
Oerture is slated to launch in 2029 at supersonic speeds.
The significance of today’s announcement is due to this. Following up on United’s agreement to purchase 20 of the aircraft from Boo and Northrop Grumman last year, American Airlines has pledged to purchase 20 of the aircraft and has put down a substantial down payment to back it up. This shows a strong level of confidence that is likely to support Boo and the recovering commercial supersonic market.
The agreement, according to Boo, is conditional upon the aircraft’s ability to meet industry-standard operational, performance, and safety standards. Before accepting bakery, the company must also adhere to certain requirements specified by American.
The Oerture boasts a redesigned hull and wing that are intended to lower the terrifying sonic boom to a tolerable thud and is expected to have its maiden flight in 2026 and enter service in 2029. It will be able to travel up to 80 passengers at speeds of Mach 1.7 over water and Mach 0.94 over land, giving it the range to travel from Tokyo to Seattle in as little as four and a half hours.
According to Derek Kerr, chief financial officer of American, “looking to the future, supersonic transportation will be an important aspect of our ability to deliver for our customers.” “For our company and our customers, we are enthused about how Boo will change the future of transportation.”
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