United Airlines agrees to buy supersonic airliners from Denver-based company
United Airlines is aiming for a new type of traveling experience by the end of the decade — a very fast way of traveling.
The Chicago-based airline — a major presence at Denver International Airport — announced Thursday it had agreed to buy 15 Overture airliners from Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic, with the option to purchase 35 more in the future.
United officials said the new aircraft will travel up to 1.7 times the speed of sound or about 1,300 mph and bring 500 destinations across the world together in nearly half the time. Some potential routes include Newark to London in three and a half hours, or San Fransisco to Tokyo in six hours, according to the release.
The companies will work together to meet safety, operating and sustainability requirements, according to a release from the airline. Additionally, once operational the planes are expected to be the first net-zero carbon airliner and will operate on sustainable aviation fuel.
“The world’s first purchase agreement for a net-zero carbon supersonic aircraft marks a significant step toward our mission to create a more accessible world,” Boom Supersonic Founder and CEO Blake Scholl said in the release.
Overture planes will be twice as fast as current airliners and will start rolling out in 2025 with test flights beginning a year later. They are expected to carry up to 88 passengers each by 2029.
Final flights of the supersonic Concorde, which British Airways and Air France began using in 1976 to zip passengers in luxury across the Atlantic, took place two decades ago. The last one was retired in 2003, three years after an Air France Concorde crashed into a hotel shortly after takeoff from Paris, killing everyone on board and four people on the ground, according to news reports.
Several companies are working to develop supersonic jets that would be more economical on fuel — and create fewer climate-changing emissions — than the Concorde.
“United continues on its trajectory to build a more innovative, sustainable airline and today’s advancements in technology are making it more viable for that to include supersonic planes,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in the release. “Boom’s vision for the future of commercial aviation, combined with the industry’s most robust route network in the world, will give business and leisure travelers across to a stellar flight experience.”
Boom Supersonic is working with the United States Air Force for government applications for Overture planes. Officials held a demonstration of the aircraft last year and planes are now undergoing flight tests.