United Boom Overture
according to Insider reports, Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce, which originally signed an engagement agreement with supersonic airline company Boom in 2020, announced last week that it had left the plan. According to Rolls-Royce, after “careful consideration”, the company decided that the supersonic airliner market was “not a priority” and would no longer invest in the program.
Not only that, but all the companies capable of building supersonic passenger jet engines, including Pratt & Whitney, GE, Honeywell and Safran, have expressed no interest in it. At present, due to the issue of global warming, aircraft engine manufacturers mainly focus on fuel saving and emission reduction, and the fuel consumption per person per kilometer of supersonic passenger aircraft can reach 7-9 times that of modern high-efficiency subsonic aircraft. Even if Boom says it will use sustainable aviation fuel, it still means that fuel that could be used by high-efficiency engines will be consumed on supersonic aircraft, and due to the higher cruising altitude of supersonic passenger aircraft, part of the pollution. Objects will therefore stay in the air longer.
Boom still said its supersonic airliner program is on track and will announce a new engine partner later this year. It’s just that after the largest engine companies have expressed no intention of cooperating, it is very curious who Boom is looking for. Boom’s Overture airliner currently has15 orders from United Airlines,and20 orders from American Airlinestentatively scheduled for the first aircraft to leave the factory in 2025 and the first flight in 2026.