• Boom Supersonic's XB-1 test jet broke the sound barrier for the first time on Tuesday.
• The XB-1 is a subscale version of its planned passenger model.
• The company's CEO says the US aviation market is being held back by Boeing.

Boom Supersonic just became the first US commercial planemaker to break the sound barrier, a significant milestone in the industry's return to supersonic passenger flight.

CEO Blake Scholl told Business Insider that the company's planned Overture commercial jet is a critical technology for helping the US aviation industry stay ahead of the competition, especially as China's homegrown jetliners gain traction and Boeing continues to face delivery delays.

"Boeing hasn't built a new airplane in 20 years, and China now has a 737 competitor, and they're working on a 787 competitor, "he said. "Unless we innovate here, everyone outside the US will be flying around in Chinese planes, and that's not in the distant future — it's soon."

Overture, a larger and faster passenger-carrying version of the test jet, is planned to launch in 2029 with a top speed of Mach 1.7, Boom says. That's about twice the speed of current airliners. American Airlines, Japan Airlines, and United Airlines have already placed 130 pre-orders for the speedy jet.

Tuesday's flight was the prototype's 12th flight, hitting a top speed of Mach 1.1 over the Mojave Desert. One final test is planned for February before full production begins.

Boom wants the US to beat China to supersonic passenger flights

China's increasing interest in Mach-speed flight has caught the eye of Congress.

Trump's transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, has said he wants to establish rules that promote innovation and creativity in the faster-than-sound market and ensure companies like Boom have access to corridors to test their aircraft — something Scholl said will be an important aid in getting Overture off the ground.

"I am thrilled with the pro-innovation, pro-progress, let's go faster mindset that that we have with Secretary Duffy, he said. "I think that's important because we can't let China win this."

Chinese startup Space Transportation has been developing a Mach 4 aircraft — more than twice the speed of Overture — that it plans to develop into a full-scale passenger airliner capable of hypersonic travel, or Mach 5, by 2030.

Despite the competition, Scholl said China is about a decade behind the US in the supersonic space — but that doesn't mean it can be counted out.

"China is about 10 years behind, and what that means is in 10 years, they're caught up," he said, referring to China as a "freight train coming" in aviation. "In 11 years, they're ahead."

Scholl said Boeing is holding the US back

Scholl said Boeing's ongoing production and quality problems have stalled the introduction of new US-made aircraft types.

The last time the American planemaker built a new airliner was in 2009 when it flew its 787 Dreamliner for the first time. Its yet-to-be-certified 777X is at least six years behind schedule.

"We've watched what used to be a great company at Boeing really struggle," he said. "I think it's really important that we not just leave all of our eggs in the Boeing basket."

He said China's Comac planes, including the C909 and C919, and the under-development C929, could puncture the Airbus-Boeing duopoly.

Comac's fleet rivals Western options but has yet to fly outside of China and Indonesia. Reuters reported that China aims to expand its C919 presence into Southeast Asia by 2026 and obtain European certification as soon as 2025.

Scholl said this expansion could threaten the US's place in the global aviation market, emphasizing Boom's importance to stay ahead.

"If we don't invent and build the next generation of commercial airplanes here in America, it's a problem for jobs, it's a problem for economics, and it's a problem for national security," he said.

Overture could be less costly than the Concorde

Overture could revive the Concorde era and connect places like New York and London in less than four hours, and Seattle and Tokyo in less than five.

Scholl said Overture will be more economical than Concorde, which last flew in 2003, thanks to its 20% more aerodynamic design, lighter carbon-fiber airframe, and 20% more fuel-efficient engines.

Boom's biggest challenge is the engine. The startup chose to build its own engine, Symphony, to power the plane.

"People called us crazy for building our own engines, but what I've come to believe is we were crazy to think of doing it any other way," Scholl said. "It would be really efficient at high speed, not require a lot of maintenance, and be friendly to airport communities."

Symphony is expected to decrease takeoff and landing noise while flying subsonic over land. Scholl said future Overture versions are planned to fly Mach-speed over land by eliminating the sonic boom.

He said another significant change from the Concorde will be ticket price, which will be more affordable due to the 64-80 possible seats and Overture's fuel-saving engines and airframe.

Scholl said business fares will hover around $5,000 roundtrip instead of the Concorde's up to $20,000.

"It's not yet for everybody, but the top 20% of flyers are already at that price point today," he said. "That's tens of millions of people, so for the same price point, you'd be able to get there in half the time."

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator plane just went supersonic in the skies over California’s Mojave Desert, making it the first civil aircraft to break the sound barrier. The American startup’s plane notched the historic achievement in its 12th test flight. It cleared Mach 1 and stayed supersonic for around four minutes, reaching Mach 1.1. Test pilot […]

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• Boom Supersonic conducted its eighth flight test on Saturday.
• Its CEO said it's on track to fly supersonic by the end of the year.
• The Boom Overture could fly from New York to London twice as fast as conventional airliners.

The return of supersonic commercial flights just got another step closer to reality.

Boom Supersonic announced Saturday that its eighth test flight reached a new maximum altitude of 25,000 feet. It matched the previous test's top speed of Mach 0.82 — slightly faster than the cruising speed of a Boeing 737.

Saturday's test focused on showing the aircraft is still controllable at higher speeds without its stability augmentation system.

Boom is on track to reach supersonic speed, above Mach 1, by the end of the year, CEO Blake Scholl said on X.

Its test flights take place in California's Mojave Desert, with the latest one lasting 54 minutes. They use the XB-1 aircraft, nicknamed the Baby Boom — a one-third-scale demonstrator of its Overture airliner.

The Boom Overture has received 130 orders from customers including United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines.

Saudi Arabia's Neom project has also invested an undisclosed sum.

Overture is planned to fly at Mach 1.7, meaning it could go from Newark to London in three and a half hours. That's about half the time commercial airliners.

It's still slightly slower than Concorde's cruising speed of Mach 2, or 1,350 mph.

But if all goes to plan, passengers could fly supersonic in 2029. Concorde made its final flight in 2003.

Overture would similarly cruise at 60,000 feet, albeit with a slightly smaller capacity of up to 80 passengers.

Boom has faced obstacles over the years. Most notably, it had to design its own engine, called Symphony, after major manufacturers declined to help.

Rolls-Royce had a contract with Boom before deciding it didn't want to prioritize commercial supersonic flight.

Boom partnered with FTT, GE Additive, and StandardAero for the Symphony engine, with the first 40 to be built at a plant in Jupiter, Florida.

In June, it completed construction of its Overture Superfactory in North Carolina. Boom expects its first assembly line will produce 33 supersonic planes a year, with plans to double that.