"United Goes Supersonic"

Released this morning at 6am CDT, United announced the purchasing of “Overture” a net-zero carbon supersonic aircraft from the company Boom.

Boom - United Goes Supersonic (boomsupersonic.com)

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Wow. I have to be honest, after the ban of the Concorde I never would have expected to see a “Concorde 2.0” make a comeback in my lifetime.

Here’s another article for your reading pleasure: Concorde Vs Boom Overture - Which Supersonic Aircraft Is Better? - Simple Flying

Tory

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Tory,

Great article! I enjoyed seeing some of the comparison related to the 70’s Concorde. I see they stated that the Concorde was generally 80% full, I wonder with the amount of traveling pre-covid (and hopeful post-covid), if they could have filled the 100 seat Concorde; interesting to see the Overture only hold 55. It’ll be an interesting watch to see how the development and test flight of Overture will play out!

Brady

Such huge news for the entire aviation industry especially coming off a global pandemic. I wonder how long it will take other airlines to follow. I’m also interested in the training for the first pilots for these and how much a ticket will cost…

-Hannah

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Very exciting, especially the idea of being so high up you can see the curvature of the planet. Definitely something I would pay to experience in my lifetime.

Looks like they’re really taking advantage of the 40+ years of technological advancement since the Concorde.

Fingers crossed we can hitch a ride in the jumpseat :wink:

It will be very interesting to see if this aircraft ever actually makes it into airline service. If it does, I might just have to bid it.

Chris

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This is exciting news! I was hoping that we would attempt this type of flight again. Now it is another incentive to finish my ratings and hopefully bid for a seat in the future. July 19th still seems so far away.

I remember watching Concorde fly over head when I was a kid on Long Island, I will never forget how unique and beautiful it looked. Even on the ground, it looks good.

Chris

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I’m curious how they’ll work it around the scope clause. I believe United’s caps the regionals at 75 or 76, and the boom falls at/under that depending if they have a first class(with no first class it’s at the cap, with a first class it’s under the cap), but it’s over the mtow listed. I don’t ever see them having the regionals run them, but I believe the clause expired in 2019/2020 and haven’t been able to find much of anything in terms of an update on that, plus, I’m pretty sure the scope clause is really only a one was street, meant to keep the regionals from encroaching in on the mainline, and not the other way around.

Either way, I’m glad supersonic travel is coming back, I feel like I missed the greatest era in aviation, but this gets me excited to see where it goes and to be able to hitch a ride!

Neal,

You’re correct, scope protects the pilot group from outsourcing. Even if they were RJs and turboprops, if the company is willing to negotiate payrates and have the pilots fly the equipment there is no scope violation.

Adam

Neal,

The United Pilot’s scope clause has not expired. Airline contracts never expire, they become amenable and stay in place until a new agreement is reached. While this will have less seats than some of the regionals have, there are other provisions of the United scope clause that will ensure that these will be flown by mainline pilots.

Chris

Yes, but is it wise to name an aircraft company after the sound of an explosion?

I’m assuming the reference is to a sonic boom, not an exploding aircraft. Either way, this is such cool news for the future of aviation. I’m a big fan of Concorde.

Scott,

I was thinking the same thing.

My money says that if this idea comes anywhere near reality, some large company like Boeing or Lockheed will buy Boom.

Chris

The Overture has a new design:

Conceptual United Render:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgPjTWOu41x/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

The dip in the from the front to the back makes it look like a shrunken 747…

Ben

Still looks like a copy of Concorde to me. I will believe it when I see it at a gate in EWR.

Adam

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Ben

And the race begins!

Hannah

Adam

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