aAmerican Airlines have agreed to purchase up to 20 supersonic jets and pay non-refundable security deposits for planes that are still in the planning stages and will take years to fly.
Neither American nor its manufacturer, Boom Supersonic, yesterday gave financial details, including the amount of American’s deposits. American Airlines will be Boom’s second U.S. customer after a similar announcement last year called 15 Overtures from United Airlines.
It’s been almost 20 years since the last supersonic passenger flight by Concorde. The Concorde failed to gain widespread acceptance due to the high cost of air travel.
Boom CEO Blake Scholl has argued that the company’s plane, which debuted in 2029, will be different.
“Every year, tens of millions of passengers fly business class on routes that Overture could significantly speed up,” Scholl said in an interview.
Skeptics have questioned the boom’s ambitious schedule, especially since it took established manufacturer Boeing years to acquire the aircraft or even convert them into aircraft approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Considering what it cost.
Boom says the Overture program will cost between $6 billion and $8 billion. His list price for this plane is $200 million, but other manufacturers regularly give airlines big discounts. MDT/AP
