Boom Supersonic this week successfully flew the first supersonic flight of its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft over the Mojave Desert in California, USA.
Boom designed, built, and flew the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet—the first civil supersonic jet made in America. The company is building the world’s faster airliner, dubbed Overture, which will carry up to 80 passengers. The project has 130 orders and pre-orders already on the table with Japan Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines.
Flown by Boom Chief Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, XB-1 entered the supersonic corridor and reached an altitude of 35,290 feet before accelerating to Mach 1.122 (or 750 mph/1,207 kmph) – breaking the sound barrier for the first time. XB-1’s supersonic flight marks the first time an independently developed jet has broken the sound barrier.
Subscribe to LATTE’s free eNewsletter to keep up to date with everything in the luxury travel industry.
“XB-1’s supersonic flight demonstrates that the technology for passenger supersonic flight has arrived,” said Blake Scholl, Boom Supersonic Founder and CEO. “Next, we are scaling up the technology on XB-1 for the Overture supersonic airliner. Our ultimate goal is to bring the benefits of supersonic flight to everyone.”
The first supersonic jet built from airliner technology, XB-1 incorporates many of the key features found on Overture, such as carbon fibre composites, digital stability augmentation, and an augmented reality vision system for landing visibility.
Following its inaugural flight in March 2024, XB-1 completed a rigorous series of 11 human-piloted test flights under increasingly challenging conditions to evaluate systems and aerodynamics. Over the course of the flight test campaign, the XB-1 team systematically expanded the flight envelope through subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speeds—while taking smart risks and maintaining safety as top priority.
XB-1 provides the foundation for Overture, validating key technologies while establishing a safety-first culture. Technologies proven through XB-1’s test program that will also apply to Overture include:
The first supersonic flight of XB-1 marks the first human-piloted civil supersonic flight since Concorde’s retirement over 20 years ago, paving the way for the return of commercial supersonic flight onboard Overture. Overture will carry 64-80 passengers at Mach 1.7, about twice the speed of today’s subsonic airliners, on over 600 global routes.
In 2024, Boom completed construction on the Overture Superfactory in Greensboro, North Carolina, which will scale to produce 66 Overture aircraft per year.
The first commercial flight of Overture has previously been flagged for 2029.
