Will Boom Successfully Build a Supersonic Airliner?
Posted by briyyz@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Boom Supersonic is an aerospace startup trying to build a supersonic airliner. The company has garnered a lot of attention recently after successfully flying their XB-1 test aircraft faster than the speed of sound, the first privately-developed aircraft to do so. Boom’s supersonic airliner, the Overture, is projected to carry 64–80 passengers (depending on how it’s configured), and is slated to begin commercial flights in 2029.
Boom has gotten a lot of attention after successfully breaking the sound barrier, but most of the discussion around the company that I’m seeing isn’t really grappling with the challenges the company is facing. The XB-1 supersonic flight is impressive, but to me there are basically four major points to consider when evaluating Boom’s prospects:
How hard is it to develop a commercial aircraft? How hard is it to develop a commercial jet engine? (Boom is designing its engine in-house, rather than one provided by a major engine manufacturer like Rolls-Royce or Pratt & Whitney.) How likely is it that Boom can do both at the same time? If it does, will the economics of its supersonic transport business work?
aviationevangelist@reddit
While the Overture’s aerodynamic profile appears to be done, the QueSST will probably have a bearing here. On the Symphony front, there is quite a bit of development happening. The engines fascinate me blogged about Boom a bit have a look. The flight profile of Boom is basically transonic more than all out supersonic. https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/supersonic-symphony-by-boom/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/05/04/the-supersonic-wings/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/shockwave/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/25/the-overture-alliance/
MrPete_Channel_Utoob@reddit
One of the gimmicks is how Boom is going to make Supersonic Travel affordable.
Yeah & I have a bridge in London I can sell you.
I guess $5.000 one way tickets are "affordable".
That's the only way this thing will be profitable.
aviationevangelist@reddit
All round efficiency is key. No afterburners. Have a read on a piece I did. https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/supersonic-symphony-by-boom/
MrPete_Channel_Utoob@reddit
Which is why they went with a trijet configuration @ 1st. Those 4 engines scream gas guzzler in today's aviation business.
To bad they couldn't make that trijet configuration work.
aviationevangelist@reddit
Understandably yes. My understanding is aerodynamics played a key role here, taking into account, no afterburners, thrust, redundancies etc…the XB-1 flew as a trijet…the other point is a lot of the Overture flight time and design is around high transonic speeds…wrote another bit about supersonic wings… https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/05/04/the-supersonic-wings/
No-Economist-2235@reddit
No engine company. Rolls dumped them.
aviationevangelist@reddit
They are building their own. Have a read on the piece I did. https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/supersonic-symphony-by-boom/
No-Economist-2235@reddit
I heard that but the idea was so ludicrous that I thought the report was faulty. What commercial or business jet or military jets build their own jet engines these days? It's such a specialized field that they would have to buy rights as the intellectual property took far to many years to develop with a combined R&D budget exceeding Booms by magnitudes.
aviationevangelist@reddit
Yeah. The concept of Overture appears to have gone through multiple iterations over the years. The development of the Symphony represents extreme resilience and perseverance…and that I admire
No-Economist-2235@reddit
Investment scam. They'll never become viable. I would admire them more if they stopped until a jet engine was developed by a company for them.
aviationevangelist@reddit
They did stop until RR chickened out for their own reasons.When innovating you need to do what it takes and the Symphony is part of that story. Should Boom run out of funding, they have made significant strides in multiple areas of aircraft designs which I am sure hold value .The Blue Ocean Strategy is full of such examples.
CARCaptainToastman@reddit
There are also environmental and legal factors to consider, and this article does a good job of explaining them.
https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/features/supersonic-travel-dead-on-arrival/
Nothing is impossible, but I don't think Overture will ever come to fruition because of this. Now while the current US administration is, at best, very blasé towards environmental concerns, the rest of the world generally isn't. And with the constant back and forth cycle of politics, it is inevitable that the US won't remain openly hostile towards environmental regulations forever. Boom itself has also stated they are committed to being environmentally friendly.
Research on the subject is still developing, but so far the findings have not been promising for Boom. Then there is also the legal issue of supersonic flight over populated areas. The Concorde faced these same challenges and it ultimately killed the program. By the end of it's lifespan, it was effectively restricted to only making flights over open water. So to your point about economic hurdles, Boom will (ironically) need to ensure that Overture can operate over land at supersonic speeds without producing audible sonic booms.
They've already proven that it's possible to do that, but what they haven't proven is that it can be done routinely with a perfect success rate in all weather conditions. If they can't achieve that, public complaints about the noise will pile up and the Overture will lose a lot of the appeal of its top selling point. It could obviously still fly supersonic over water, but so could the Concorde. That wasn't enough to save it, and supersonic airliners as a concept, from becoming a relic of the past.
And even if Boom is able to produce "quiet" supersonic flights over land without any complaints from sonic booms accidentally reaching the ground, it still might not be enough. And that is also a HUGE if. Mach cutoff is real, but calculating it requires finding the perfect balance between air pressure, temperature, wind speed, and altitude over the distance and direction of the flight path. Maintaining it over the entire duration of a transcontinental flight and being able to do so hundreds of times with unwavering consistency is, in my opinion, pushing the limits of possibility to the absolute maximum.
But the reason it still might not be enough goes back to the environmental concerns. In order to maintain any sort of operational efficiency, Overture will need to fly at extremely high altitudes when going long distance if they intend to go supersonic. And as of yet, none of the environmental research into this has yielded good results for the planet. In fact, the results have looked quite damaging. I do believe that Overture still has the potential to one day fly commercially, but it will only ever be in a capacity similar to the Concorde. In order for Boom to bring Overture to complete fruition, they will basically need to create something with no carbon footprint capable of quiet supersonic speed.
I believe the development of something with those capabilities it is still within the realm of possibility, but not for Boom. They will overrun their budget, incoming capital from new investors will dry up completely, and the project will either be abandoned or acquired by a larger company. If supersonic commercial flights do become the way of the future, I would bet anything that the Skunkworks X-59 will spark their revival, not the Overture.
aviationevangelist@reddit
The X-59 and the findings that follow are obviously critical to the success of Boom and Supersonic travel. Overture might not fly by 2029 as predicted, but aviation at large needs a Boom to kickstart a fresh wave of innovation and create a fresh new ecosystem. Been blogging about Boom’s progress….and the increments are heartening… you can find my writings here https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com
upbeatelk2622@reddit
It's like how most academics and talking heads who comment on EVs have little to no literacy on how big of an undertaking it is to develop a car. Just knowing all the parameters doesn't make one an effective commentator.
I'm a car guy and based on that knowledge, I've said from the start that Tesla willfully ignored many of the conventions in the automotive world, either out of extreme ignorance or extreme hubris, they have very little innovation. Instead they are stubborn deniers of reality. That denial, not politics, is what's really now eating away at Tesla sales.
Is Boom the Tesla of civil aviation? Or is Blake Scholl Elizabeth Holmes with a fuselage? What I can say for sure, is the market always prefers well-roundedness over innovation. That's how Boeing became number one, while going all-in on certain pursuits killed the Convair 880/990, VC-10 and TriStar.
Japan Airlines signed up for the Boeing 2707 in the 60s. Now it's got a financial investment in Boom. We'll see how that works out ;)
aviationevangelist@reddit
Think history is a great teacher. Boom has been tackling the issues faced by the Concorde. That they have gotten this far itself is a testament to their resilience. Have a read of the links below. Thanks. https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/supersonic-symphony-by-boom/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/shockwave/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/25/the-overture-alliance/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/05/04/the-supersonic-wings/
Wyoming_Knott@reddit
This is a balanced, well written piece that calls out the difficulties that Boom faces, calls out the timeline issues of XB-1, puts some praise where deserved, provides historical numbers for comparison, and avoids the 'hurr durr' mentality that this sub often displays. Nice work to the author, and refreshing to see someone with an objective take on Boom's chances.
aviationevangelist@reddit
I have done multiple pieces on Boom. You might enjoy them. Links below. https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/supersonic-symphony-by-boom/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/shockwave/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/25/the-overture-alliance/
https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/05/04/the-supersonic-wings/
aviationevangelist@reddit
I believe Boom will succeed. Been following them for a while and writing about them too. Do enjoy the piece on the evolution of the Boom Symphony. https://manirayaprolu.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/supersonic-symphony-by-boom/
ItsYungCheezy@reddit
No
CarbonKevinYWG@reddit
It's probably easier to build a supersonic airliner than it is to get people to use the search function, apparently.