Is it Boom Time for Supersonic Passenger Travel?

It has been almost 25 years since Concorde’s last flight and with it the dream of supersonic passenger travel. On 25th July 2000, Air France flight 4590 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people onboard and four on the ground. 

Launched in the late 1960s, Concorde revolutionized air travel by halving transatlantic flight times. However, despite its technological achievements, Concorde’s commercial success was limited due to high operational costs, regulatory hurdles and fluctuating demand. The aircraft was retired in 2003, marking the end of an era.

In the two decades since Concorde’s retirement, several companies have sought to revive the dream of supersonic travel. Two companies are now in the race to return Concorde’s legacy, but with very different approaches.

Boom Supersonic, a Colorado-based company, has launched its XB-1 demonstrator in a step towards a new supersonic airliner, the Boom Overture, which aims to be operational by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, Spike Aerospace is focusing on the business jet market with their Spike Diplomat, designed for high-net-worth individuals and executives.

Breaking barriers to supersonic flight

Supersonic flight faces many hurdles, but both Boom Supersonic and Spike Aerospace see that advancements in technology are now making it practical and cost-effective. 

Speaking to Interesting Engineering, Blake Scholl, Boom Supersonic’s founder and CEO, said: “We are finally at a point today, post-Concorde, where both the technology and the market exist to make mainstream supersonic flight really practical.”

Scholl elaborates: “That’s the advent of things like carbon fiber composites for commercial airframes, efficient turbofan engines, and the ability to design and iterate on an airplane in computational fluid dynamics simulations rather than through wind tunnels.”

Spike Aerospace also sees new technology as vital, however, Vik Kachoria, CEO of Spike Aerospace, sees the sonic boom to still be a barrier for larger aircraft: “We spent a lot of time thinking about how large we can make this aircraft. We would love to be able to fly 100 passengers. There definitely is a market for flying 100 people from London to Dubai or London to Hong Kong. But the challenge is if we want to do a low sonic boom aircraft, that size aircraft is just too large.”

The sonic boom dilemma

The sonic boom, a loud noise generated when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound, remains a significant barrier. Regulatory frameworks currently do not provide clear guidelines on acceptable boom levels, making it challenging to design compliant aircraft. Efforts to mitigate the boom involve complex aerodynamic modifications to dissipate shockwaves before they reach the ground.

Scholl acknowledged this challenge: “The challenge with sonic boom is a lot more about regulatory than it is about technology. We know how to create sonic booms of a whole spectrum of intensities, but the more we dampen it, the more we give up other things. We give up fuel efficiency, we give up range, we give up affordability of tickets, we give up sustainability.”

“How do you do it responsibly, so it’s not producing a sonic boom? How do you lower the emissions? That’s another consideration that’s becoming a stronger and bigger concern as we go forward.”

Kachoria explains, “The challenge is to create a low sonic boom aircraft that can still be commercially viable. We’ve changed a few things to reduce that sonic boom, but it’s not an easy problem to solve.”

“The secret is complicated. A lot of aerodynamics, a lot of physics in it. But what you’re doing is you’re designing the aircraft so that the airstream hitting the plane is dissipated before it reaches the ground.”

Two paths to supersonic flight

The market for supersonic travel is bifurcated between business jets and commercial airliners. Spike Aerospace’s Diplomat business jet targets high-net-worth individuals and executives who value time savings for critical face-to-face meetings. 

Kachoria explained the focus: “If I’m going to hire a senior executive, I need to see him face to face, touch his hand, have dinner with him, spend time with him. And that has to be done face to face. So the people that are going to be flying supersonic, they need to meet face to face to actually do deals.”

On the other hand, Boom Supersonic’s philosophy is more inclusive, aiming to make supersonic travel accessible to a broader audience. By developing the Overture as a small airliner, Boom intends to cater to both transoceanic and domestic routes, opening up supersonic travel to tens of millions of passengers. This strategy leverages economies of scale to reduce ticket prices, making supersonic travel a viable option for more than just the elite.

According to Scholl: “For one, I just want everyone to be able to fly on it, be able to buy a ticket. I don’t want this to be just for people who can buy their own airplanes, but for everyone.”

The road ahead

The next decade will be crucial in determining whether the dream of affordable supersonic travel becomes a reality. Boom Supersonic and Spike Aerospace are pioneering efforts, but numerous technical, economic, and regulatory hurdles remain.

The success of these programs will depend on continued advancements in materials science, aerodynamics, and propulsion technology. Collaboration with regulatory bodies will be essential to establish clear standards for sonic booms and environmental impact. Furthermore, market acceptance will hinge on the ability to offer competitive pricing and reliable service.

If successful, these efforts could bring a new age of air travel, where flying faster than the speed of sound is no longer a luxury but commonplace. 

As Scholl states, “Our goal is to make supersonic flight, the benefit to be able to get around the planet more easily, available to everyone who flies.”