Boom Supersonic unveiled its first demonstrator aircraft X-B1, which is scheduled to begin flight testing next year, in a milestone for the U.S. startup planning a commercial airliner that can conquer the sound barrier.
A handful of U.S. companies here are vying to bring back supersonic passenger travel which died out with the Anglo-French Concorde's retirement in 2003.
The planned supersonic jets, while quieter and more fuel-efficient than the Concorde, are under pressure from environmentalists and airports to meet noise levels and carbon emissions standards for conventional planes.
Denver-based Boom said in a release that XB-1 will undergo a carbon-neutral flight test program which is to start next year in Mojave, California.
XB-1 has a 71 foot-long (21.6 m) fuselage, a carbon-composite airframe and three GE-designed J85-15 engines, the statement said.
The aircraft’s first flight is targeted for the backhalf of 2021, with entry-into-service of the company’s supersonic airliner Overture expected by the end of the decade, Boom Chief Executive Blake Scholl said in an interview.
Overture, a supersonic airliner with 65 to 88 seats priced initially at business class fares, would cut transatlantic flying time in half to about three-and-half hours. The company says it has orders from Japan Airlines Co 9201.T and Virgin Group.
