It’s been two decades since the Concorde’s last flight but the race to resuscitate supersonic travel is very much on, despite the industry leader – Aerion – going into “light” bankruptcy in 2021, after almost 20 years of exciting everyone with its proposed 120 million USD, Mach 1.4 business jet. As it turns out, one man’s loss is another man’s gain, for Aerion’s demise has effectively pushed Boom to the head of the supersonic table, while also making its project seem much more viable. That’s because, rather than banking on a 10-seat jet, Boom’s been developing an 80-person commercial airliner called Overture that’ll reach Mach 1.7 over water and Mach 0.94 over land (to comply with noise regulations). And, even if its price may be steep – at 200 million USD a plane – it has still managed to attract 130 orders from carriers like American, United and Virgin Galactic. What’s more, Boom recently broke ground on a factory in North Carolina and their last major hurdle of finding an engine partner was resolved in December when they decided to go it alone after signing on vanguards Florida Turbine Technologies, GE Additive and StandardAero to help build their engines in house. “Developing our own supersonic engine offers the best value proposition for our customers,” explained Blake Scholl, the founder of Boom, before adding that the engine’s complex blueprints and design refinements are now moving forward according to plan, meaning Overture should get official type certification by 2029.