US United Airlines Orders 15 Supersonic Passenger Jets... London to New York in 3 Hours 30 Minutes

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] United Airlines, one of the four major U.S. airlines, has attracted attention as it plans to purchase supersonic aircraft, potentially reopening the era of supersonic commercial flights that ended over 20 years ago.

According to major foreign media including CNBC on the 3rd (local time), United Airlines announced that it had ordered 15 units of the supersonic aircraft "Overture," currently being developed by Denver-based aviation startup Boom Supersonic.

Details of the transaction, including the purchase price of the aircraft, were not disclosed, but it is known that United Airlines has secured an option to buy up to 35 supersonic planes from Boom Supersonic in the future.

Boom Supersonic has received $270 million (approximately 300.9 billion KRW) in investments from venture capital and others, and is developing supersonic aircraft aiming to launch passenger services in 2029.

Overture will fly at Mach 1.7, a speed that can cover the distance from New York, USA to London, UK in just 3 hours and 30 minutes. It can also travel from San Francisco on the U.S. West Coast to Tokyo, Japan in 6 hours.

If United Airlines deploys Overture on passenger routes, it will mark the resumption of supersonic passenger flights for the first time in 20 years since the Concorde, which began service in 1976 and ceased operations in October 2003.

However, the New York Times (NYT) pointed out that there are many hurdles to overcome before this can be realized.

It stated that the three major challenges faced by British Airways and Air France, which operated the Concorde, must be overcome: high costs, safety concerns, and weak demand. Above all, experts are concerned about the difficulty of achieving economic viability due to expensive engines.

However, Boom Supersonic announced plans to collaborate with British aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce to create engines that are 75% more efficient than those of the Concorde.

Since supersonic aircraft consume more fuel than conventional planes, environmental pollution issues have also been raised, but Boom Supersonic intends to reduce carbon emissions by using sustainable aviation fuel.

The approval process from regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other countries is also expected to be challenging. For example, the Boeing 737 Max was grounded for nearly two years after two fatal crashes.

For United Airlines, this move follows its $20 million investment in air taxi startup Archer in February, signaling its intention to accelerate innovation.

In particular, it is expected that the introduction of supersonic aircraft will attract a large number of business passengers for whom "time is money."

However, it remains uncertain whether companies, which have found efficient remote meeting alternatives to face-to-face meetings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will readily pay the supersonic passenger flight costs expected to reach thousands of dollars per person.