Since the start of the pandemic, airlines and airports have been pummeled with a variety of problems. They have experienced extreme losses during shutdowns followed by high ticket sales and traffic and workforce issues that have caused overbooking, new cancellations and even more losses.
On Tuesday, August 16, 2022, American Airlines made it clear that it doesn’t consider these issues a source of permanent financial damage. Officials for the 96-year-old airline announced that American had ordered the manufacture of 20 new supersonic airplanes that fly so fast that they can travel from New York City to London in approximately three hours.
The company made the order with an option to order up to 40 additional jets through Boom Supersonic (Boom Technology, Inc.), which is a Denver company founded in 2014 known for designing and building Mach 1.7 (over water) supersonic airliners that seat 65 to 88 passengers. The only other companies to order this technology in recent years have been Virgin Atlantic in 2016 and United Airlines in 2021.
Boom’s CEO and founder, Blake Scholl, believes that the technology will lower airline ticket prices. He originally was unable to fly on the now-decommissioned Concorde and created Boom Supersonic with the hope that one day anyone could travel the world for $100 or less within a mere five hours.
He noted that this specific model, Overture, gives American Airlines an advantage over other companies by “cutting travel times in half.” The tickets are expected to be priced at rates for business class passengers, but the exact prices are still unknown.
American won’t have their new planes until at least 2025 since Boom Supersonic is still testing the Overture model. By then, the jet is expected to maintain a 4,250 mi (7,870 km) range.