Commercial Supersonic Airliner Raises $100 Million in Funding

Jan. 06, 2019

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2 min read

Commercial Supersonic Airliner Raises $100 Million in Funding

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Boom Supersonic, a Colorado-based aviation company, announced on Jan. 4 that it has raised $100 million in capital during a Series B investment round. The new funding will allow the company to continue its work on "Overture," the company's supersonic airliner.

Commercial aviation has been without a supersonic service since the final flight of the Concord in 2003. Boom is looking to return supersonic travel to the masses. Overture will have 55 seats and travel at mach 2.2, which is slightly faster than the Concord but more than twice the speed of today's commercial planes.

According to Boom, airlines would be able to operate the aircraft charging roughly what business class seats cost today. Flight times between New York and London would take just over three hours, the company says, allowing for transatlantic day trips.

A rendering of the two-seat Boom XB-1 supersonic demonstrator and the Boom airliner

The announcement marks the latest investment in the company. Japan Airlines invested in Boom in 2017, and more recently the company saw an investment by Ctrip.

Boom is currently building a one-third scale working prototype that they say should fly later this year. The company is aiming for passenger service to begin in the mid 2020s. Boom already has 30 orders for Overture on its books. Both Virgin Group and Japan Airlines have preorders with Boom.

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