United Airlines announced that it will purchase 15 supersonic airliners from a Denver-based
startup that would fly 65 to 85 passengers at record speed. Under the deal, United would
purchase Boom's "Overture" aircraft once the planes meet "United's demanding safety, operating
and sustainability requirements" with an aim to start passenger travel in 2029, the companies
said in a joint press release.
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And in today's video, we are going to discuss “Why United Airlines New Supersonic Jets Will Be
Game Changer.” So without any further ado, Let's begin.
Several companies are working to come up with
new supersonic jets that would be more economical on fuel and create fewer climate-changing
emissions than the Concorde. Boom is working to develop an 88-seat plane it calls Overture,
which it says will be the first supersonic airliner to fly on so-called sustainable fuel.
United and Boom would not disclose financial
details, including the cost of each plane, but Mr. Leskinen said the economics should
be about the same as a new Boeing 787, a wide-body plane that airlines typically use on international
routes. United has committed to buying the planes if Boom manages to produce them, secure
regulatory approvals, and hit other targets, like meeting its sustainability requirements.
"United and Boom share a common purpose to
unite the world safely and sustainably," said Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl. "The world's
first purchase agreement for net-zero carbon supersonic aircraft marks a significant step
toward our mission to create a more accessible world." United's potential routes for Overture
could include Newark, N.J. to London; Newark to Frankfurt, Germany; or San Francisco to
Tokyo, the company said.
The new Overture fleet will also include in-seat entertainment screens and "ample personal
space." Potential per-seat pricing for passengers was not disclosed. Another supersonic contender,
Aerion, that it was running short of money to get its plane, the AS2, into production.
Supersonic jets are often banned over populated areas because of the sonic booms they create.
That eliminates many potential overland routes
because the planes would have to fly at less efficient subsonic speeds. The airline is
making big investments in sustainable aviation fuels, including investment in Fulcrum Bioenergy,
a company that makes jet fuel from household garbage. SAFs can reduce emissions by 80%
on a lifecycle basis compared with conventional fuel, according to aviation industry body
IATA. United is also funding projects that suck carbon directly from the air.
“Direct air capture is going to play a massive
role,” said Riley. United is planning to invest in the project 1PointFive, said Riley,
which is building a direct air capture plant in Texas. “One of these plants will remove
as much CO2 as 40m trees,” she said. Boom and United plan to fly many of the same routes
as the Concorde, but NASA has commissioned Lockheed Martin to build a plane that could
help open up thousands of new passenger routes, by showing that supersonic flight can happen
without producing the loud sonic booms that rattle nerves and shatter glass.
Mike Buonanno, of Lockheed Martin's famous
"Skunkworks" airplane design division, believes their test plane, the X-59, will produce a
muffled "thump" rather than a loud boom. "I think that real 'aha' moment for me is going
be when I hear that first shaped boom from X-59….a thump, thump," Buonanno says. Boom
is also testing new technologies that could muffle the sonic boom that occurs when a supersonic
airplane breaks the sound barrier. These cannon-blast booms led Congress to ban supersonic jets
from flying over US soil in 1973.
But in October 2018, President Trump signed a bill directing the Federal Aviation Administration
to consider lifting the ban. It’s unclear where President Joe Biden, who has made infrastructure
and climate change a hallmark of his early days in office, stands on supersonic travel.
"This is an order, but to call it a firm order is inaccurate," Mike Leskinen, United's head
of corporate development, told The Air Current. While money has exchanged bank accounts, Leskinen
said the agreement is tied to certain milestones. "They Boom have to deliver, and we've got
a number of years to deliver on that. We're going to work closely with them to help."
Direct air capture is not yet operating at anything like the scale required. There are
only 19 DAC plants in operation globally, which collectively remove about 10,000 tons
of CO2 annually, a long way from the 85m tons a year the IEA estimates must be removed by
2030 as part of measures to keep to 1.5C of warming. And when it comes to sustainable
fuels, supplies remain limited.
Globally SAF still makes up less than 0.1% of aviation fuel and it costs about three
to four times more than conventional fuel. Riley readily acknowledged that United currently
uses tiny amounts of SAF. The airline burns about 4bn gallons of fuel in a typical pre-pandemic
year, only 1m gallons of which is SAF. “And we have the most supply so that’s just bananas,”
Riley said.
Doug Vine, director of energy analysis at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions,
said more aircraft manufacturers and airlines are attempting to use sustainable fuel derived
from things like recycled oil and biomass to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and
chart a course for their business that emphasizes sustainability.
Boom, which has raised $270 million from venture
capital firms and other investors, said it planned to introduce aircraft in 2025 and
start flight tests in 2026. It expects the plane, which it calls the Overture, to carry
passengers before the end of the decade. But the start-up’s plans have already slipped
at least once, and it will have to overcome many obstacles.
Even established manufacturers have stumbled
when introducing new or redesigned planes. Boeing’s 737 Max was grounded for nearly
two years after two crashes. "A report from NASA earlier this year cited numerous environmental
hazards of faster-than-sound commercial travel, although the paper did not examine specific
designs such as Boom's," wrote David Slotnick.
Once developed, Overture will send passengers from Paris to Montreal in only 3 hours and
45 minutes, about half the current metric of 7 hours and 15 minutes, according to Boom.
But to critics, it was another attempt to make sustainable aviation seem a lot closer
than it is in reality and give the impression people can fly guilt-free.
Yet despite these challenges, United Airlines
is pursuing a growth strategy that includes increasing flight numbers, adding new routes,
and investing in supersonic aviation. When Covid restrictions ease again and the world
opens back up, airlines including United are hoping to see rapid recovery. In the US, the
industry is already expecting pre-pandemic levels of travelers this holiday season despite
the rise of the Omicron variant.
Chicago-based United believes that its coastal hubs in San Francisco and New Jersey, and
its corporate-traveler clientele make it better suited than its rivals to offer supersonic
service. Boom predicts "power-to-liquid" processes where renewable energy such as wind power
is used to produce liquid, will make up the shortfall. "We expect that to be commercialized
well before it's needed for our purposes," explains Boom's Raymond Russell.
"There are billions of dollars of both airline
commitments and investments across the sector." But it remains an industry that needs to be
scaled up. "Can you suddenly find an enormous additional supply of sustainable electricity
at affordable prices?" asks Dr. Gratton. "I'm not saying it can't be done. It may well be
done but it has not been done yet."
While the United Boom tickets will sell at a far higher price tag than the standard transatlantic
flight, with estimated ticket prices hovering around $5,000, there's bound to be a demand
that will be unmet with the smaller capacity. So, United will still want to serve those
passengers, meaning United will need to offer more flights. It not only requires more planes,
but it requires more pilots, more airspace (or overflight fees), more gates, more runway
time, and more ground staff.
But United is acting on its strategy, and in its recent announcement, it outlined its
goal to create 25,000 unionized jobs by 2026, including pilots, flight attendants, agents,
technicians, and dispatchers.
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