For the first time since the final flight of the Concorde in 2003, a commercial airliner – albeit a prototype – has exceeded Mach 1, achieving supersonic flight. The airplane, which has been dubbed the XB-1, was designed and built by a company appropriately named Boom.
Today, for the first time since Concorde was retired in 2003, a commercial-type aircraft, the XB-1, went supersonic, touching Mach 1.1 three times during its one-half-hour test flight out of California’s Mojave Air And Space Port.
The XB-1 first flew in March 2024, with 10 more tests under its belt since – until today. The fastest of those previous flights was Mach .95, earlier this month.
Boom Technology, the company who developed XB-1, is building a bigger aircraft, Overture, a 64-seat affair (Concorde had 100 seats), for commercial operations. It says Overture should ready in a few years. Airlines that have expressed interest include American, Japan Air Lines and United.
There’s a catch, though; due to FAA rules, the XB-1 isn’t allowed to exceed Mach 1 over the continental United States. Boom’s subsequent airliners, though? That may be a different story. Imagine flying from Boston to San Diego in two hours!
In the meantime as with Concorde, the XB-1 test model can’t fly supersonic over land in the U.S. because of the powerful sonic boom. Today’s supersonic test over land was specially-sanctioned by the FAA. Overture will have a much quieter sonic boom footprint, and therefore should be able to fly over land, says Boom.
That will, of course, be subject to the FAA’s approval, but as we observed on Tuesday, the FAA has a new leader who will doubtless prove much more capable than the man he replaced. Yes, that’s setting the bar pretty low, but even so.
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International travel will, of course, be where the real value of this kind of high-speed transport lies. The Concorde, old technology now but still speedy, was able to fly from London to New York in under three hours. For comparison, a modern traditional airliner requires seven hours or more. The Concorde was expensive, and any future airliner from Boom will likewise be costly, but in the travel market, as with any market, one gets what one pays for, and there is a premium for speed just as there is a premium for luxury.
While this won’t be an option for many air travelers for some time to come – if ever – it’s still a great thing to see. This is what America is supposed to be all about: Breaking new technological ground, innovating, and being bigger, better, faster, and tougher. Boom gets this, and we’re pretty sure that the revamped FAA will be on board, which is more than we can say for the previous administration.
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It’s a new day in air travel. Or, at least, it will be. For several years, I was semi-regularly making the 18-hour nonstop flight from Denver to Tokyo; I can’t describe how great it would be to have cut that time in half, and yes, I’d pay a premium for that.
Watch the XB-1 take its first test flight:
You can learn more about Boom, the XB-1, and the company’s other projects here.
