American Airlines Agrees to Buy 20 Supersonic Planes from Boom

A couple of reality checks from the article -

"The deal is the second firm order in the last two years for Boom, still years from building its first commercial airplane. " ...

"Still, Overture is years away from becoming a reality. "


No mention of the dollar value of the so-called nonrefundable deposits from the agreements.
Nor discussion whether cheap stock or stock options were given to entice ostensible aircraft buyers;

Such stock purchases, if any occurred, would give a new meaning to the phrase " Boom or Bust " :)

Living in West London, I witnessed all the superb technology that went into Concorde, all of which were designed before computers were available to the draughtsmen. Everything was designed by human beings, including those amazing engines and the delta wings. Even on board, a human engineer needed to travel in the cockpit to fine-tune the fuel load that was distributed around the aircraft to maintain the centre of gravity. But that is history - sad though it may have been when I watched the last British Airways aircraft land at Heathrow before being distributed to museums just half way through their working lives and having just been completely refurbished and made safer around the fuel tanks.

But the finances of the design, construction and operation of such aircraft were impossible to overcome, as were the laws of physics. Concorde was restricted to 100 passengers (less on the Paris route) to keep the weight down but that payload is financially insane. The heat that the aircraft generated by friction, even in the thin air at 55,000 feet, expanded the aircraft and all its internal fittings by 13 inches - all drag to be paid for in fuel burn.

Concorde was dramatically restricted in its route availability by the sonic boom which nothing that can be engineered by mankind will be able to solve. Country after country pulled their advance orders for Concorde on the grounds of cost and the restrictions placed on its routes with no country in the world allowing the plane to cross their borders supersonically over land - even the UK and France restricted the speed when near the land/sea borders.

The US would have nothing of it, partly I suspect to keep out a new European aircraft manufacturer ready to compete with Boeing, but also because it could not fly anywhere useful. It was not allowed to fly supersonically over US or Canadian territory and the range of the aircraft was useless over the Pacific and the Atlantic except to London and Paris where BA and AF would already be flying in a very niche market of film stars and bankers.

Today's available market needs to be closely examined. Concorde was flying at the peak of popularity in the banking centres of London and New York. Tragically 9/11 saw the British Airways passenger list reduced by no less than 40% in those few dreadful hours. And they were never really replaced. The Paris to New York route always struggled and was kept alive by national pride until 9/11 gave it the chance to withdraw from the market under another pretext. Business air traffic declined permanently and the Coronavirus restrictions broadened everyone's minds to Zoom meetings thus affecting all sorts of business-related facilities such as office accommodation, hotels, restaurants, rail travel and air travel. If it had still existed, supersonic air travel would have been decimated.

The history of Concorde was one of immense Anglo-French national pride in the post-war era, with brilliant engineering overcoming the problems of the day and the political and manufacturing co-operation between the two countries over Concorde being the bedrock of the success of today's Airbus manufacturing. But the crazy finances that were heavily supported by national governments both in its build and sales for a few highly restricted routes in the world will never be able to be successfully transferred to the private finance market.

So where does AA believe that they can find viable routes to operate 20 supersonic airliners with those physical limitations on cost and routings? And how will Boom manage to overcome physics and the much-reduced need for such a plane in the post-pandemic world?

Most people that have been involved in Aviation for the last 20+ years have witnessed promises, upon promises from new exciting aviation platforms that have gone by the wayside along with the investors cash. So one can't be surprised by the skepticism from those of us that have witnessed it.
I hope they are successful, but considering these sound breaking aircraft platforms have been out there looking for investors since around the mid to late 2000s, I too fall into that camp. If I'm not mistaken. one of them just declared bankruptcy and again swallowed their investor's cash.
Apparently the decision makers at United and AA have very short memories.

When the cash changes hands and the first flight takes place, let me know.

Here’s hoping Overture doesn’t turn out to be Vaporware.

Probably accompanied by seed money to keep effort afloat. What they are trying to achieve is immensely complicated. Even trying to get a "simple" GA approved consumes more cash and time than any investor wants. Look at the Epic aircraft saga as an example

Of course, this aircraft will become obsolete as soon as SpaceX manages to get its Starship human rated and into service for point-to-point service. New York to Sydney, London or Tokyo is an hour or even less, at Business Class prices, not Premium First Class. No SST can compete with that.

American Airlines Press Release...
https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2022/American-Airlines-Announces-Agreement-to-Purchase-Boom-Supersonic-Overture-Aircraft-Places-Deposit-on-20-Overtures-FLT-08/default.aspx

The negativity is EPIC on this board.... if this were the 1800's you would all be saying human flight is impossible.

No prototype, no engine, no FAA cert process: paper airplane.

Boom has yet to fly their 1/3 scale prototype. Target date has been pushed forward several times...

(IF) this ever gets past the drawing stage, I wonder if any Countries will now allow supersonic flight across their territory. That was only one of the problems faced by Concorde.

I hope they succeed. I will be an early passenger if it happens in my lifetime. I wanted to fly Concorde and procrastinated until it was too late.

From an AAL POV, great strategic PR. 'Makes the Company "sound" proactive and forward thinking, while at the same (and ignored by MSM) time gives them a good DECADE to "rethink", quietly and without fanfare...

Ahh, more handwringing and whining from the eco-terrorist crowd. What if the Wright Bros. had listened to those who said if humans were meant to fly, they would have wings? I remember a celebrity who used to end his show with "Keep your feet on the ground, but keep reaching for the stars!" How true!

me tooo...!!

who is going to fly them they keep on saying that they don't have pilots or crew

Looks a bit like a re-do of Boeing's once-upon-a-time proposed SST.

this is very interesting..i do remember the concorde and the big push for airlines to buy and use it..time marches on as they say,and if this company has yet to find a manufacturer for the engines,i think it will be many years down the road before its "flying days" come to fruition..

😂😂😂😂😂

Getting there a a few hours quicker is not worth the damage it will cause to the environment. Climate change is real even when you deny it.

I have zero confidence that this airplane will become a reality. Billions in R&D just to build a prototype. FAA certification won't be a given either.

airlines making commitments on unproven technologies and without a prototype. not the best move they made. I wonder how much money they shoveled towards this vaporware that now passengers and tax dollars will need to pay for?

this aircraft will not be the least bit helpful to the upper atmosphere where it will operate. This is another irresponsible intrusion into planetary global warming, with the astounding comment from the president of the company saying that people want this, etc. etc. Perhaps the grandchildren of these passengers will feel less kindly to the company and their selfish ancestors.

Ignoring history inevitably leads to failure. Concorde development costs alone came to 2.8 billion USD. This after estimating it would cost 130 million. Not a penny of that money was recovered. It never made any money for BA or AF. The restrictions on that craft are still in place and will apply, if it gets off the ground, to this. I remember it landing at my Base in Halifax NS, with mechanical problems and had the dubious distinction of helping BA crews with an engine change. This was almost an annual occurrence and only 40-70 passengers were ever onboard. An impressive aircraft.

Sounds like it is going to be a real BOOM... To United's Pocketbook.. so to speak... I do not see this as a good deal.

...never quite figured out why people are in such a hurry...

They just had to Jump onto the Band Wagon... Finding somewhere else to waste Money.

It would be such a pity if they assigned old hags to be FA's on these. LOL!

Ya I think They found Alice Kramden

Crazy idea.................they didn't notice what a failure the Concord was!