That’s why Boom believes its aircraft will be a game changer.
“It’s now been 20 years since Boeing or Airbus did a new product,” Scholl said, recalling that the Boeing 787 was launched at the same time that Airbus introduced the long-range A350. “And since then, there’s been only tweaks [to those models],” he added.
Mark Bentall, head of research and technology at Airbus, responded that the new A350s are made of carbon fiber, which makes them significantly different from the base model. The recently certified A321XLR also represents a major innovation for the Toulouse-based company, as the new narrow-body plane has extra fuel capacity making it suitable for long-haul flights.
“The key focus for us is not to go faster. Faster takes more energy, always will do. And it’s not contributing to the sustainability drive,” Bentall said.
Despite worries about emissions and fuel consumption, Boom promises to reduce the environmental impact of Overture — which, according to Scholl, burns twice as much fuel as a comparable nonsupersonic flight — by using only sustainable aviation fuel instead of kerosene.
Another issue is the U.S. ban on all overland commercial supersonic flights to avoid noise pollution, which will force Boom to fly supersonic only over seas, a restriction the Concorde also faced. ICAO, the United Nations’ aviation agency, is working on new standards for supersonic flights.