Will we ever see a replacement for Concorde ?

[YorkRailFan]

Which means for two airlines to place firm orders now, they must be confident that the Overture will be successful.

2 airlines isn't enough to make the Overture a profitable aircraft for Boom though.

It isn’t irrelevant though. It’s proof that the company is capable of developing supersonic tech.

Which isn't very hard to do, the XB-1 is almost a super car with jet engines, it's not flying supersonic either.

BA paid £16.5 million for the airframes. They made £14 million profit on Concorde in 1983 alone, by 1987 the annual profit was up to £54 million. So in all likelihood BA will have made a profit on the purchase of Concorde in 1984.
Concorde was a nice money maker for BA. Air France is another story but that’s largely because they got their route and marketing strategy wrong.

The difference between Boom with the Overture and Boeing with the 2707 is that the former didn’t pull the plug on development the second Congress refused to find it, whereas the latter did.
There are many more potential sources of private funding now than there were in 1971 when the 2707 was cancelled and privately funded projects have been successful in other similar areas, take for example Virgin Galactic with their sub-orbital spaceplanes and SpaceX with their private orbital space flights on Dragon, nothing funded in a remotely similar manner to either of those privately funded programs would have been conceivable in the 70s which is the last time anyone seriously had a go at developing Supersonic airliners.

The difference between the 2707 and the Overture is that the former was a state backed project, commissioned by the state and funded by the state. The latter is not. The difference with SpaceX is that they not only have Starlink as a project but are also awarded NASA contracts which provide as an extra source of income and allow more projects to come from SpaceX with said money. Virgin Galactic has backing from Branson, he can throw more money than Boom could dream of at space flights.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Apr 2024 ==

Today, XB-1 secured the first-ever Special Flight Authorization (SFA) to Exceed Mach 1 from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). XB-1 test flights will continue to be conducted in the R-2508 Complex and supersonic operations will occur in the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor and in a portion of the High Altitude Supersonic Corridor within the R-2515 airspace, which has been used extensively for research and military supersonic aeronautical operations. XB-1’s SFA follows a thorough review and Environmental Assessment, and extends to specified chase plane aircraft, which will trail XB-1 to observe, monitor, and record safety of flight.

The SFA comes just weeks after XB-1, the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet, took flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California on March 22, 2024. XB-1 was flown by Boom Chief Test Pilot Bill “Doc” Shoemaker, and Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg flew the T-38 chase aircraft which monitored XB-1 in the air. XB-1’s first flight occurred in the same airspace that hosted many historic first flights, including the flights of the Bell X-1, the North American X-15, and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.

Boom - FlyBy - XB-1 to Mach 1

FAA issues first-of-its-kind authorization to XB-1 for supersonic test flights, planned for later this year in the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor in Mojave, CA

boomsupersonic.com

Boom wanted the XB-1 to be flying Supersonic in 2019, meaning that the XB-1 will be at least 5 years late in this regard. But as I've said before, the XB-1 is an aerodynamically different aircraft to the Overture since Boom redesigned the Overture at the 2022 Farnborough Airshow.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Boom has completed the construction of the "Superfactory" in North Carolina.

“Construction of the Overture Superfactory represents a major milestone toward ensuring the United States’ continued leadership in aerospace manufacturing. Supersonic flight will transform air travel, and Overture provides a much-needed innovative alternative for airlines across the globe.”

Superfactory | Boom Supersonic

The Overture Superfactory in Greensboro, NC — Boom's state-of-the-art supersonic aircraft manufacturing facility.

boomsupersonic.com

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jun 2024 ==

Boom has announced that Florida Turbine Technologies has been testing a 3D printer for the Symphony Engine.

Blake Scholl, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Boom Supersonic, the company that aims to develop and build its own supersonic jet, has disclosed that the company has begun combustor rig tests of its engine, marketed as the Symphony, using a scale model that was 3D printed in eight weeks. The Symphony will power the Boom Supersonic Overture, a supersonic jet that will fit between 64 and 80 passengers.

3D printed in eight weeks​

Scholl disclosed in a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the development of Symphony has been accelerating, with combustor rig tests that have begun this week in Jupiter, Florida, where Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT), one of the companies involved in the development of the engine, was based.
The CEO highlighted that the combustion test rig was built in just eight weeks, as the company used stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing to build the rig. The rig is full scale and 1/8 section, measuring 4 feet (1.2 meters) in length and 2 ft (0.6 m) in height, according to the founder.

“Test results will help calibrate our digital engineering and allow us to maximize Symphony's fuel efficiency — so we reduce the cost of supersonic flight, ultimately allowing more people to benefit from high speed travel.”

Combustor aerodynamics​

Scholl shared that the first tests focused on combustor aerodynamics, with the CEO adding that nearly 80 pressure sensors measure flow details from the high-pressure compressor, around the fuel nozzles, and through the combustor. Providing context, the CEO noted that at heart, Symphony is a turbofan engine, which was a proven design that has been powering modern commercial aircraft for decades. But Boom Supersonic’s engine was engineered from the ground up with state-of-the-art materials and aerodynamics and was tuned for reliable and economical supersonic flight.

“Jet engines are not quite rocket science (arguably, they are harder, thanks to stringent reliability and safety requirements)—and that's why we are taking a rapid development approach, quickly turning designs into hardware and conducting real-world tests.” The executive teased that Boom Supersonic would unveil more about the Symphony engine at the upcoming Farnborough International Airshow, which will take place between July 22 and July 26 in Farnborough, Hampshire, the United Kingdom. During last year's Paris Air Show, Boom Supersonic unveiled Aernnova, Leonardo, and Aciturri as three new suppliers for the Overture, its supersonic aircraft.

Boom Supersonic Starts Symphony 3D Printed Engine Combustor Rig Tests

The combustor rig was built using the stereolithography (SLA) technology in just eight weeks.

simpleflying.com