Boom Technology, Inc. (

trade name A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Boom Supersonic) is an American company designing a , 65-88-passenger

supersonic airliner A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupo ...

. Named the Boom Overture, the airliner is planned to have a range of and to be introduced in 2025. After being incubated by

Y Combinator Y Combinator (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator launched in March 2005. It has been used to launch more than 3,000 companies, including Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Quora, PagerDuty, Reddit, Str ...

in 2016, Boom Technology raised $51 million of

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

in 2017, and $100 million by January 2019. The

Boom XB-1 Baby Boom The Boom XB-1 "Baby Boom" is a one-third-scale trijet supersonic demonstrator designed by Boom Technology ( dba "Boom Supersonic") as part of development of the Boom Overture supersonic transport airliner. Powered by three General Electric J85s ...

one-third-scale demonstrator is expected to begin flight testing in 2022.

History

The company was founded in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

in 2014. It participated in a

startup incubation program in early 2016, and has been funded by Y Combinator,

Sam Altman Samuel H. Altman ( ; born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur, investor, programmer, and blogger. He is the CEO of OpenAI and the former president of Y Combinator. Early life and education Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri; his mo ...

, Seraph Group, Eight Partners, and others. In March 2017, $33 million were invested by several venture funds: Continuity Fund,

RRE Ventures RRE Ventures is an American Venture Capital firm based in New York City. The firm primarily invests in seed, series A and series B rounds and focuses on companies operating in the software, internet, communications, aerospace, robotics, 3D printi ...

, Palm Drive Ventures, 8VC and Caffeinated Capital. Boom secured $41 million of total financing by April 2017. In December 2017,

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

invested $10 million, raising the company capital to $51 million: enough to build the XB-1 “Baby Boom” demonstrator and complete its testing, and to start early design work on the 55-seat airliner. In January 2019, Boom raised a further $100 million, bringing the total to $151 million, then planning the demonstrator first flight for later in 2019. In January 2022, the company announced plans to build a 400,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on a 65-acre site at

Piedmont Triad International Airport Piedmont Triad International Airport (commonly referred to locally as "PTI") is an airport located in unincorporated Guilford County, North Carolina, west of Greensboro, serving the Piedmont Triad region of Greensboro, High Point and Winston ...

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

Projects

XB-1 Baby Boom

The XB-1 Baby Boom is a one-third-scale supersonic demonstrator, designed to maintain Mach 2.2, with over of range, and powered by three dry

General Electric J85 The General Electric J85 is a small single-shaft turbojet engine. Military versions produce up to of thrust dry; afterburning variants can reach up to . The engine, depending upon additional equipment and specific model, weighs from . It is on ...

-15s. It is expected to be flight tested in 2022.

Overture airliner

The Overture is a proposed , 65- to 88-passenger

supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupo ...

with envisaged of range. With 500 viable routes, Boom suggests there could be a market for 1,000 supersonic airliners with

business class Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names which vary, by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between ...

fares. It had gathered 76 commitments by December 2017. It decided to use the

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

configuration of Concorde and make use of composite materials. It is to be powered by

three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

dry

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanica ...

engines. A derivative or a clean-sheet design was to be selected in 2019. In September 2020, the company announced that it had been contracted to develop the Overture for possible use as

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircr ...

. Boom CEO Blake Scholl "estimates that flights on Overture will be available in 2030." In January 2021, Boom announced plans to begin Overture test flights in 2026. In June 2021,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

announced that it had signed a deal to purchase 15 Boom Overture aircraft, with an option to buy 35 more. They are scheduled to begin operating in 2029. On August 16, 2022, Boom announced that

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

had agreed to purchase 20 Boom Overture aircraft.

Symphony engine

In December 2022, Boom announced the Symphony, a new propulsion system to be designed for the Overture. Boom will work with three companies to develop Symphony: Florida Turbine Technologies for engine design, GE Additive for additive technology design consulting, and

StandardAero StandardAero is a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider based in Scottsdale, Arizona, US. The company is not related to Standard Aircraft Corporation, which was formed in 1916 and ceased operations in 1931 as New Standard Aircraft Com ...

for maintenance.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Aircraft manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 2014 Manufacturing companies based in Denver 2016 establishments in Colorado Aerospace companies of the United States Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2014