The Boom supersonic transport moved another step closer to reality this week when CEO Blake Scholl announced 76 firm orders at the Paris Air Show for the as yet unproven aircraft. While customer identities have not been revealed, except for the Virgin Group, the remaining four are believed to be airlines. Billionaire Richard Branson holds a significant stake in Boom.
The Baby Boom, the 1/3rd scale prototype, also this week successfully completed a preliminary design review at Boom’s Denver-area manufacturing facility. If the new SST successfully enters service in 2023 as planned, it will carry as many as 55 passengers 4,400 nm at speeds of Mach 2.2. The tri-engine Boom will make over-water routes such as Los Angeles-Sydney and Seattle Shanghai possible, shaving many hours from the routes currently flown using sub-sonic aircraft.
Scholl said orders for the initial aircraft are backed by cash deposits creating enough liquidity to continue development of the Baby Boom through its first flight scheduled for late 2018. Supersonic testing of the Baby Boom will later take place at Edwards AFB California.
Although the FAA bans supersonic flight over the Continental U.S., Scholl believes there are as many as 500 city pairs connected by water that will make the aircraft a success. He believes the airplane’s sonic boom, some 30 times quieter than that of the Concorde, could go a long way toward convincing the FAA to relax the supersonic ban.
Scholl expects a business-class ticket on the Boom to cost about $5,000. The price of the aircraft itself is currently listed at approximately $200 million per copy.
