Concorde successor passes test and flies faster than sound

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• On January 28, a civilian aircraft flew faster than sound over California for the first time in 20 years.
• The XB-1 prototype from Boom Supersonic reached 1385 km/h.
• However, Boom wants to build a passenger plane called Overture for 64 to 80 passengers, which is due to take off in 2030.

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The US company Boom Supersonic has taken an important step towards its goal of building a successor to the Concorde supersonic aircraft. Boom's XB-1 test aircraft exceeded the speed of sound for the first time during a flight over California's Mojave Desert.

It is the first time that a privately developed aircraft, and not one developed by a government or a large corporation, has achieved this. As a test aircraft, the XB-1 still looks like a military jet. However, Boom wants to build a passenger plane called Overture for 64 to 80 passengers, which will be up to twice as fast as today's commercial aircraft.

The aim is to have Overture in the air by 2030. United Airlines and American Airlines, among others, have held out the prospect of using Boom's aircraft. However, the first flight of the XB-1 has already been delayed from 2021 to March 2024.

A decommissioned British Airways Concorde is loaded at New York's Intrepid Museum in March 2024.

KEYSTONE

When flying supersonically, the airspeed is greater than the speed of sound in the vicinity of the aircraft. The era of supersonic passenger flights came to an end for the time being with the last flight of a Concorde in 2003. The aircraft, which was developed in France and the UK, remained a niche model, mainly due to its high fuel consumption.