United Airlines aims to regain supersonic travel by the end of the decade on an unmanufactured plane.
The airline plans to buy 15 jets from Boom Supersonic and an additional 35 as an option on Thursday after start-ups design planes that fly faster than the speed of sound while meeting safety and environmental standards. Said.
United refused to talk about the terms of the deal, such as how much cash to put in before the deal.
Approximately 20 years have passed since the last flight of the supersonic Concorde, which British Airways and Air France began using in 1976 to transport luxury passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. The last one was retired in 2003, but three years later, Air France’s Concorde crashed into a hotel shortly after taking off from Paris, killing everyone on board and four on the ground.
Several companies are working on new supersonic jets that save more fuel and reduce climate change emissions than Concorde.
Boom is working on the development of an airplane called Overture, which will be the first supersonic airliner to fly on so-called sustainable fuel.
According to the Denver company, airplanes can accelerate up to 1.7 times the speed of sound, or about 1,300 miles per hour. It’s slower than Concorde, but much faster than current airliners, which usually have cruising speeds of 500 mph or slightly above.
United said flights between the London and New York areas are only 3 hours and 30 minutes, and Tokyo is only 6 hours from San Francisco.
Boom hopes to carry passengers on the plane in 2029 and test-flight the plane by mid-20.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said technological advances will make it more feasible for airlines to own supersonic aircraft.