The return of Concorde supersonic flight has been brought a step closer with the announcement that 5 airlines have placed a total of 76 orders with U.S. firm Boom.
Virgin is the only known customer of the concept stage supersonic passenger airliner with the other four to be announced at special events.
"Airlines are excited for something new and different to offer their passengers and we're thrilled that major world airlines share our vision for a future of faster, more accessible supersonic travel. We look forward to sharing more about these partnerships in the future," said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO at the Paris Air Show press conference.
Scholl added the new aircraft reservations are backed by "tens of millions" of dollars in non-refundable payments.
Boom claimed the average length of flight from Paris to New York would drop to three and a half hours from 7 when the full airliner flies, utlilzing its full Mach 2.2 speed. Another example given was San Francisco to Tokyo which would take a little over 5 hours, compared to the current 11.
Concorde, which debuted at the Paris Air Show 48 years ago this week, had a top speed of Mach 2.
The full plane comes with two configurations of either 55 business class seats or 15 business with 30 first class seats or longer flights. The plane would have a list price to customers of $200 million.
A business class ticket from London to New York is estimated at $5,000.
The company wants the plane in the skies by 2023 but is first developing a smaller supersonic jet to test the technology.
Scholl said the XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator will fly in Denver late next year after passing a major performance and safety test.
"We now have everything required to build history's first independently developed supersonic aircraft—the funding, technical design, and manufacturing partners," said Scholl.
GE, Honeywell, Tencate and Stratasys are among the firms working on the Boom Supersonic development.
