After completing a successful test flight that resulted in no audible sonic boom, aviation company Boom Supersonic hopes to be the first airline to offer domestic supersonic travel.
Commercial supersonic air travel has been dormant since the Concorde was grounded in 2003 and, during its 27 year service, the Anglo-French aircraft was only ever allowed to fly supersonic over water because of its sonic boom that could disturb people on the ground and even damage buildings.
However, Boom Supersonic has just successfully flown above Mach 1 (767 mph), becoming the first American company to do so and the first to achieve it without a sonic boom that could be heard on the ground.
Boom figured out a way to get rid of the audible boom on the ground - just fly higher. That’s made possible by the company’s proprietary “Boomless Cruise” tech, which lets the plane break the sound barrier at a high enough altitude where sound waves literally U-turn before they get close to the ground (a phenomenon known as “Mach cutoff”). Additionally, the tech has an algorithm that allows the company to pinpoint the exact conditions (weather, altitude, speed) needed to achieve “silent” supersonic travel.
Boom’s airliner - known as 'Overture' - will be able to make coast-to-coast US flights 90 minutes faster than typical commercial flights, according to CEO Blake Scholl. Despite interest from airlines like United and American, Scholl lamented on X that he can’t roll out the service just yet because of current regulations. Some say that the new administration is likely to get rid of these restrictive regulations.