On November 26, 2003, Concorde took off for the last time. After revolutionising air travel for nearly 30 years, spiralling costs and a fatal crash in the year 2000 forced the aircraft to retire. Since then, the return of supersonic flight has been a pipe dream; its glamour and convenience consigned to history along with in-flight cigars and lobster thermidor in business class.
One startup is looking to shake things up. Boom Supersonic, founded in 2014 in Denver, Colorado, aims to bring back commercial supersonic flight by the end of the decade. Their CEO, Blake Scholl, says they are “four to five years away from carrying passengers”. In January, Boom’s prototype XB-1 achieved its first successful flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, reaching 35,290 feet before accelerating to a top speed of 750 mph and breaking the sound barrier three times. “A good start to the year,” Scholl says.
