Flights from New York to London will take about three and a half hours
The world’s largest airline has agreed to buy up to 20 supersonic jets which could slash flight times from New York to London in half.
American Airlines has put down a non-refundable deposit on the planes that are still on the drawing board and years away from flying.
Neither American nor the manufacturer Boom Supersonic would provide financial details on Tuesday, including the size of American’s deposit.
American becomes the second US customer for Boom after a similar announcement last year from United Airlines for 15 of the planes, called the Overture.
Breaking News: @AmericanAir places deposit on 20 Overture aircraft. American, the world’s largest airline, is poised to have the world’s largest supersonic fleet. The agreement also includes an option for an additional 40 Overture aircraft. https://t.co/VbGWQiXnCC pic.twitter.com/BhHken9Yws
— Boom Supersonic (@boomaero) August 16, 2022
It has been nearly 20 years since the last supersonic passenger flight by Concorde, the British-French plane that failed to catch on because of the high cost of flights.
Boom chief executive Blake Scholl says his company’s plane will be different when it debuts in 2029, with tickets costing about 4,000 US dollars (£3,310) to 5,000 US dollars (£4,140) to fly from New York to London in about three and a half hours.
“There are tens of millions of passengers every year flying in business class on routes where Overture will give a big speed-up,” Mr Scholl said, “and airlines will be able to do it profitably.”
Boom says the Overture programme will cost between six billion dollars (£5 billion) and eight billion dollars (£6.6 billion). The plane carries a list price of 200 million dollars (£165 million), although other manufacturers routinely give airlines deep discounts.
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