Why The Boom Overture Will Be The 1st Supersonic Jet With Affordable Flights

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It has been over two decades since the operations of commercial supersonic services ceased due to Concorde's withdrawal. However, it appears that commercial supersonic flights are returning amid Boom Supersonic's advancements in design and flight testing. While the manufacturer is faced with questions regarding its suitability for the market and questions regarding the sustainability factor of the aircraft, it is worth keeping in mind that Concorde did prove suitable on certain routes.

Additionally, the upcoming Overture aircraft is designed from the get-go to operate with 100% SAF, and is being designed with the latest generation of materials and composites, along with the latest technology. This indicates its operations will be more sustainable than those of Concorde. However, the key question that remains is, will the Overture be affordable?

Flying On Concorde Was Expensive

Concorde first entered commercial service 50 years ago, when the aviation industry, along with the passenger market, was much smaller than what the world sees today. As such, the privilege of flying was reserved for a select part of society, and flying supersonic was exclusive only to the upper echelons of this small part of society. This, paired with high costs of operation, along with operational restrictions and the economic status of the world at the time, resulted in high fares.

Nevertheless, the aircraft type started becoming profitable by 1983, with Concorde bringing in £14 million that year for British Airways, and this increased to £54 million in 1987. So, how much were the tickets to fly on Concorde back in the day? To answer this, it is worth remembering that Concorde was designed with an all-business-class cabin, catering to the type of customers the aircraft was focused on, and per British Airways data, the aircraft could accommodate 100 passengers.

The average round-trip fare on Concorde between London and New York in the mid-1990s cost about $8,000. This cost, when taking inflation into account, rises to a round-trip fare coming close to $16,900 in 2025 (per an inflation calculator).

How Does This Compare To Today?

While a ticket on board Concorde cost $8,000 for a business class round-trip in the mid-90s, which equates to nearly $17,000 in 2025, how does that compare to commercial airlines operating on the London-New York market today? A quick fare search on the top four carriers operating on the London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to New York JFK Airport route for a round-trip service on their premium cabins can help us to understand this question.

For a fair comparison, the same random dates around half a year out were chosen when looking at fares on the top four airlines operating on this route, which included British Airways, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Delta Air Lines. The table below details the basic premium fares shown for these specific dates on the airlines' own websites from a search made earlier this year.

It is worth noting that fares can change (sometimes drastically) depending on how far in advance the fares are searched for, market seasonality, different fare brackets within premium cabins, any shocks to the market, and even the booking engine used. Even so, it is clear that flying in premium cabins, on board subsonic jets available in the market today, is considerably cheaper than flying Concorde back in the day.

Flying The Boom Overture Can Be Affordable

Boom Supersonic aims to make supersonic flights "routine travel for missions of passengers worldwide". It has already created a smaller test aircraft, XB-1, which achieved supersonic flight 12 months ago, hitting speeds of Mach 1.122 (12.2% faster than the speed of sound). Therefore, assuming Boom continues testing and successfully develops the Overture and gets it certified, what could be expected in terms of fares?

Firstly, it is important to remember that the air-travel passenger market is considerably larger than it was during the period when Concorde remained operational. Apart from all-time-high passenger numbers, flyers these days (especially in the post-pandemic recovery) have had a tendency to spend more on flying, utilizing premium cabins. Furthermore, while passenger numbers are increasing year-on-year in the commercial sector, similar trends can be seen in the charter aviation sector.

The ability to save time is a key selling point of supersonic air travel. While Overture will not be achieving the speeds Concorde used to fly at, the aircraft is still being designed to operate at twice the speed of modern jets, thereby essentially reducing the time between destinations by half. Therefore, it can be understood that current premium passengers are willing to pay more than they used to 50 years ago, and saving time remains a key factor for business travellers.

Reduced Costs Should Help Reduce Fares

While on one hand, a segment of customers is willing to pay more, on the other hand, operators should be able to fly the Boom Overture with reduced costs. This will enable such carriers to drive fares downwards, making it accessible to a larger portion of the flying public. How and why would the operational cost be lower than that of Concorde? This is primarily the case because the Overture is being designed 50 years after Concorde entered commercial service.

Therefore, Boom, as a manufacturer, has access to technology, innovation, and materials that did not exist five decades ago. By utilizing modern materials and composites in the design of the aircraft, the airlines will essentially be flying a much lighter aircraft, making it more efficient. Additionally, the engines designed for the Overture have the advantage of today's technology to operate efficiently, thereby reducing fuel burn and carbon emission-related expenses for the airlines.

By those two factors alone, airlines taking delivery of the Overture will be operating a much lighter, technologically advanced, and more efficient jet than Concorde. Furthermore, the external infrastructure in terms of communication and navigation can enable the Overture to be operated using more efficient routing, which further reduces the operational costs of the aircraft.

Beyond airline operations, from a commercial standpoint, the aircraft's target customers, who are mostly business travellers who value time and productivity, could potentially see the value of flying to their destinations faster. This might help boost productivity and improve the performance of their business by trading off a higher fare for better efficiency and turnaround.

More About The Overture

As stated previously, the Overture will not be flying as fast as Concorde, which cruised at speeds exceeding Mach 2 at altitudes of 60,000 feet. The Overture, meanwhile, is expected to have top cruise speeds of around Mach 1.7 when flying at altitudes of 60,000 feet.

A key advantage the Overture will have over Concorde is the ability for 'boomless' cruise flight, which prevents sonic boom sound waves from reaching the ground.

This would enable the Overture to fly up to 50% faster than commercial aircraft over land and twice as fast over water. Other key factors include the number of routes it can serve, with Concorde having been very limited due to limited market demand then. This meant that there were very few routes on which the aircraft could operate profitably. With the Overture, however, Boom Supersonic claims the aircraft can be operated profitably on over 600 routes around the world.

While there is certainly a growing demand for premium travel around the world, it remains to be seen if there are enough airlines around the world willing to invest in supersonic air travel. It is worth remembering that Concorde had received options for around 100 examples from 18 different airlines. However, just 20 aircraft were built, of which only 14 flew commercially, with British Airways and Air France operating seven examples each.

The Overture, at the moment, holds options and pre-orders for 130 aircraft, namely from United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines, along with an undisclosed but fairly limited number of options from the US Air Force. Only time will tell how many of these aircraft will be built.

Better Market, Premium Demand & Modern Tech

Boom Supersonic is a serious manufacturer that is making serious strides in research and development when it comes to supersonic flight, and tangible results are being produced. Concorde, during its time, was operating at high costs, and in a market that was limited and volatile. However, despite this, the operators were able to fly the aircraft profitably after a few years. The Overture, meanwhile. will be entering an aviation market (though volatile with geopolitics and other issues) with more demand.

More importantly, however, the market is trending upwards when it comes to premium demand, and on a global scale. The fact that the market is a lot more favorable now, along with factors such as modern technology and designs, might help the Overture to reduce operational costs and improve efficiency, both in terms of operations and sustainability. This could potentially make flying on the Overture more affordable for the public.

The Overture is expected to enter commercial service towards the end of this decade. With more development and testing slated for the coming years, the realm of supersonic air travel will definitely be worth keeping an eye on.