NEW YORK (Agefi-Dow Jones)–American Airlines announced Tuesday that it has ordered 20 planes from Boom Supersonic, banking on the future prospects of these ultra-fast planes which will not be available for several years.
The airline paid a deposit for these first 20 aircraft, dubbed Overture, and took an option on 20 additional aircraft. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
The aeronautical startup Boom has designed new supersonic planes, capable of exceeding the speed of sound like the Concorde. The Overture model is designed to carry 65 to 80 passengers at speeds up to Mach 1.7, which is 1.7 times the speed of sound and twice the maximum speed of today’s airliners.
The order comes on top of an order for 15 aircraft placed by United Airlines last year and could usher in a new era of supersonic flight nearly 20 years after Concorde’s commercial flights ended.
Some observers are skeptical of the possible rise of supersonic travel and doubt the viability of Boom’s plans. The latter plans to launch production of the Overture in 2025 for a first commercial flight in 2029.
The company is still looking for an engine for its plane and has entered into discussions with Rolls-Royce Holdings about it.
Only British Airways and Air France had purchased Concordes. The high operating costs of the aircraft and the high noise level produced by its engines had limited its use to a few expensive flights between Europe and the East Coast of the United States.
The erosion of demand after the crash of a Concorde in 2000 and the fall in air transport after the attacks of September 11, 2001 had precipitated the retirement of the Franco-British aircraft.
-Alison Sider, The Wall Street Journal (French version Thomas Varela) ed: VAL
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August 16, 2022 11:32 ET (15:32 GMT)