You may have seen some news about the progress of the Boom supersonic transport (SST) demonstrator, and that news raises the obvious questions: Will supersonic travel return? Should you care? The short answers are “Probably yes” and “Probably no.” If that’s all you care to know, you can go right to the sports or cooking pages or sites. Read on for more detail.
Boom Technology is an outfit building Overture, the first commercial SST since Concorde. Ideally, the first completed plane will be delivered to a customer in 2029. It will cruise at Mach 1.7 (about 1,100 mph) and carry 64 to 80 passengers up to a nonstop range of about 4,900 miles. Boom claims Overture will be able to offer seats at prevailing subsonic business class fares.
