Boom Supersonic: The first prototype of the private supersonic aircraft will arrive

Aircraft manufacturers are currently struggling with massive problems. Because in the last twenty years airline orders have skyrocketed year after year. Accordingly, Airbus and Boeing have greatly expanded their production capacities and have also asked their suppliers to do the same. The corona pandemic then brought this development to an abrupt end. Because the airlines cannot fly, they cancel orders and ask for a delay in acceptance. Despite this difficult environment, the US startup Boom continues to

work undeterred on one vision: a privately financed supersonic aircraft for up to 55 passengers. A first - still greatly reduced - prototype called the XB-1 will be presented to the public in October.

The development should be completed in around five years

Numerous simulations and tests in the wind tunnel had already been carried out beforehand. Now the demonstrator should prove that the approach does not only work in theory. The XB-1 is made of carbon fiber composites and is therefore comparatively light. With a length of around 21 meters and a span of five meters, the prototype initially only offers space for two people on board. Three J85 jet engines from General Electric should ensure that it is the fastest civil aircraft in the world. If nothing goes wrong during the test flights with the prototype, the construction of the first full-size aircraft should then begin. According to current plans, completion will then take place in the middle of the decade.

From London to New York in 3.5 hours

The machine called Ouverture will be around three times the size of the XB-1 and should reach speeds of up to 2,330 km / h. This would make the aircraft significantly faster than the legendary Concorde, which offered connections from Paris and London to North America until 2003. The company promises that a flight from London to New York will only take 3.5 hours. How much the potential passengers will have to pay for this time gain has not yet been determined. Ultimately, however, this will not be decided by the startup itself, but by the airlines as buyers of the supersonic aircraft. At least before the start of the corona pandemic, they showed a keen interest in the new supersonic aircraft: According to Boom Supersonic, there are already more than seventy pre-orders.