Japan Airlines invests $10 million in supersonic jet company Boom

Denver-based start-up Boom Supersonic said on Tuesday that Japan's number-two carrier Japan Airlines Co Ltd has invested $10 million in the company, which is building a supersonic passenger aircraft it claims will be faster, quieter and more affordable to fly than Concorde.

Boom is developing a 55-seat plane that it says will be able to more than halve the flight time from New York to London to just three hours and fifteen minutes.

The firm has said its jetliner, expected to enter service by the mid-2020s, will fly at speeds of Mach 2.2, 10 percent faster than Concorde, which popularised supersonic jet travel in the 1970s.

As part of the deal Japan Airlines, which has the option to purchase up to 20 Boom aircraft, will provide its knowledge and experience as an airline to hone the aircraft design and help define the passenger experience for supersonic travel, the companies said on Tuesday.

Boom's aircraft is expected to produce a sonic boom that would be at least 30 times quieter than Concorde's, which was dogged by high operating costs and fuel consumption, and low capacity utilisation.

Boom estimates that fares for its aircraft would be 75 percent lower than Concorde's and comparable to current business class tickets, due to its better fuel efficiency.

Pre-orders received 

Boom, whose suppliers include General Electric Co, Honeywell International Inc and Netherlands-based TenCate Advanced Composites, has reportedly received 76 pre-orders from airlines, excluding the option of up to 20 aircraft from Japan Airlines.

Boom is backed by venture capital firms such as 8VC, RRE, Lightbank, Y Combinator and Caffeinated Capital, as well as angel investors including Sam Altman, Paul Graham and Greg McAdoo.

As of March 2017, Boom had raised about $41 million in funding.

Supersonic passenger transport stopped in 2003 with the decision to ground the Concorde. To date, there have been only two supersonic aircraft to take to the skies. 

Apart from the Concorde – a joint effort by France and Britain – the only other supersonic airliner to take to the skies was the Soviet built Tupolev Tu-144.

Commercial flights of the Tu-144 stopped in 1978.