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Boom.
55 passengers. All window seats with direct aisle access. Mach 2.2. Business Class priced tickets. Is this for real? Oh, yes it is. The buzz around Boom has been growing for a couple of years, but attention rose when Japan Airlines added $10M of funding to their endeavor late last year. Since then they’ve been hard at work, and now Virgin Atlantic is expressing interest in being one of their first buyers. Blake Scholl, CEO, was at the Farnborough Airshow last week and set forth some goals and aspirations that absolutely made my mouth water. Namely…they want to be up and running by 2023 with a long term goal of putting 2000 supersonic planes in the air.
Fuel cost and noise pollution killed the Concorde. But, as Scholl points out, technology has changed significantly. In fact, they’ve been able to conduct over 1000 wind tunnel tests at their facility in Denver before ever constructing a life size version of their plane. By utilizing materials like carbon fiber and endless computer simulations they believe they can actually achieve a lower fuel burn for their passengers than those in business class on a non supersonic aircraft. Pretty cool if you ask me.
So what would those seats look like?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Boom is currently building the XB-1 at their facility in Colorado.
Upon completion they will use the XB-1, a two seater plane, to do live testing in the legendary and historic R-2508 corridor near Edwards Air Force Base.
Check out this video that compares Boom’s new aircraft with the Concorde.
It’s highly informative, technical, and illustrates how Boom uses technology to reduce R&D cost and ultimately create an efficient aircraft that aims to make supersonic travel a reality.
A few examples of what their aircraft would be able to accomplish.
Do you think we will see this kind of air travel become a reality?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.