[Jeroen]

As I mentioned before, these guys are definitely keeping busy.

First test flight with their test bed plane

https://simpleflying.com/xb-1-first-flight/

Jeroen

[Thyag]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

As I mentioned before, these guys are definitely keeping busy.

First test flight with their test bed plane

https://simpleflying.com/xb-1-first-flight/

Jeroen

Hope this boom doesn't go bust, they have long way to go though - 2029 seems to be very difficult

[Jeroen]

I remain skeptical. Never the less, these Boom guys are burning money as if it’s going out of fashion.

They have their production fasciitis ready:

https://onemileatatime.com/news/boom...-superfactory/

It’s an interesting article with some background information on what is happening with Boom and the aviation market in general. Lots of people rooting for Boom. Very few actually believing they will succeed. Having said that, they are, as per the article, extremely well funded! So there are those who not only believe in this supersonic dream, but are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Jeroen

[ads11]

I think most everyone who has a passing interest in the aviation sector would Like to see a return to civilian supersonic aviation. However those same people are probably also realistic to see that there's really no market demand for this - like truly it'll be a niche offering in terms of prospective users. So naturally Jeroen I don't blame you for your healthy skepticism - I share it too.

I will admit they seem to still be able to raise funds quicker than they can burn it, which seems surprising in and of itself. I'm quietly amazed they can continue to raise funds for such a moonshot initiative from private funders.

A few months ago they seemed to have done a raft of press, I was seeing a bunch of videos too pop up over Nebula and Youtube. A concerted effort no doubt tied in to their constant fund raising.

I think that first demonstrator flight will be the inflexion point. If that goes awry then the gravy train is going to run out quick sharp.

[V.Narayan]

What routes will they fly? -only over water is feasible as things stand.

Presuming adequate range the only routes are over the Atlantic and Pacific connecting coastal or near coastal cities e.g. Paris-New York or range permitting Tokyo-SFO.

Some modes of transportation forever excite the designer in us - supersonic flights and flying cars for example. Air travel time these days is clogged up with the whole check-in + security + boarding process. The actual flying time being but one component. Sorting out time consumed by the pax on the ground at the airport may be a better way to solve for time taken to travel between two ports.

And why should a pax or airline suddenly trust a newbie company designing and building an airliner for the first time - safety, reliability etc. Airlines/Business Jet operators are not exactly going to line up to buy these till all safety aspects have been proved beyond doubt. Just look at the healthy skepticism {mixed with some prejudice, I suspect} over China's new airliners.

And there is the maintenance. Supersonic fighters of Western origin to best of my limited knowledge require something in the order of 15 to 25 maintenance man hours for every flying hour. I don't know how this has been calculated. Looks like it might not include line maintenance. Just my guess.

[Jeroen]

Obviously Boom feels there is a market. With the current envisaged range, they could serve some 600 routes.

Their market research shows considerable interest in supersonic flights. Well, it would of course.

https://boomsupersonic.com/commercial

Concorde required some 20-23 maintenance hours per hour flight time. But, it could also hold a pretty normal flight schedule between flights. Airport turn around time were on par with regular commercial airliners.

I am not sure what the main contributing factors are in fighters or Concorde of those high maintenance hours.

Concorde had lots of interest from many reputable carriers at first. Including 6-7 major US carriers. PAN Am had placed eight option in the period 1966-68, but cancelled all by 1973.

Boom likes to point to their current option order book. But we don’t know the conditions of those options. I doubt any carrier has committed to actually buy these airplanes. These sort of options tend to get you a potential manufacturing time slot, not much else.

We will wait and see!

Jeroen.

[ads11]

Algorithm served me up this rather flashy cinematic commercial from Boom:

https://youtu.be/Q-mBFso8sJQ?si=Ke2A9i2wnUZNFOOF

Reminded me that they'd completed their first flight of the demonstrator aircraft earlier this year. They're still very bullish understandably and I've still not seen enough on who they've partnered with for the engine. That's still such a big question mark for me.

More importantly until I've seen the results of NASAs QSST programme, Boom are in a corner of an already small niche if they're limited to over water transcontinental flights only. And the named carriers are only three on the video so it's still not a ringing endorsement from the industry either.