Boom Supersonic Opens Overture Superfactory

This is the first supersonic airliner factory in the United States. The company claims that this facility strengthens US next-generation leadership in aerospace manufacturing, and will grow North Carolina’s economy by at least $32.3 billion over 20 years, adding more than 2,400 jobs.

The first assembly line will be able to produce 33 Overture supersonic aircraft annually, while a planned second assembly line will be able to double production, to 66 aircraft annually. The company sure is optimistic if it thinks there will be sustained demand for 66 of these aircraft per year.

Now the Boom Overture just needs to become a thing!

It goes without saying that this facility is a major investment. Now the question is just whether a plane carrying passengers will ever be produced here.

To Boom’s credit, the company is incredibly well funded, and recently even got an investment from Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Investment Fund. Furthermore, there’s no denying that what Boom is trying to build is possible — we’ve had supersonic travel before, and we could have supersonic travel again.

The question is, can Boom build a plane that’s commercially viable, that gets support from regulators, and that could actually be carrying passengers by 2029 (or at least any time in the foreseeable future)? That’s something I’m more skeptical of:

• Boeing announced the 777X concept in 2013, and that’s expected to enter service in 2025 at the absolute earliest; that was “only” an update to an existing jet from one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, so the timeline just seems highly unrealistic here
• The manufacturer of the Concorde never made money on the plane; most orders for the Concorde were never followed through on
• Given the range of the jet and the need for supersonic flight to be overwater, the actual markets where this is a viable concept are limited; sure, there’s New York to London, but aside from that, there aren’t that many city pairs
• I don’t think there’s a need for supersonic travel in the same way there used to be; premium travel has improved so much in terms of comfort, Wi-Fi connectivity, etc., so time spent traveling isn’t “wasted” in the same way as before
• With environmentalism being an increasingly important topic for airlines, I just don’t see how this concept fits into that, even if it’s much more fuel efficient than the Concorde was

So yeah, maybe the Boom Overture could be carrying passengers by 2040 if Boom is willing to take a multi-billion dollar loss on the project (which… is not how business works).

But I’d be absolutely shocked if the Boom Overture launches anywhere close to 2029, and ends up becoming a commercially viable concept. This is an area where I’d love to be proven wrong, though. The commercial aircraft manufacturing industry could use some competition, and I’m delighted to see some companies trying.

As a reminder, below is the prototype that Boom has to show so far for its work, a decade after the company was founded. Can we go from this to the Boom Overture being in commercial service in just six more years?