![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Overture-at-Gate.png?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nTravelers, aircraft manufacturers, aviation enthusiasts, and those nostalgic for the Concorde are dreaming aloud of a comeback for supersonic flight.<\/p>\n
Now that regulations in the U.S. are being amended to lift the absolute ban on supersonic flight over the country, nothing seems to stand in the way of a return of commercial flights at speeds exceeding the speed of sound – faster than Mach 1, or well over 1,200 km\/h at sea level.<\/p>\n
The American aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic is even building the Overture, a supersonic passenger jet often regarded as the modern successor to the legendary Concorde.<\/p>\n
However, there are still some serious hurdles to overcome before that can happen. For example, the promised quiet sound has never been measured, let alone has the business model been finalized or the environmental impact assessed.<\/p>\n
The Concorde, the most famous supersonic passenger aircraft ever, flew from 1976 to 2003 and made it possible to cross the Atlantic Ocean in just a few hours.<\/p>\n
That is, until high costs and excessive noise pollution brought its era to a close. Now there are signs of a comeback: Boom Supersonic, among others, is working on the Overture, a new passenger aircraft designed to make transatlantic travel faster than the speed of sound once again.<\/p>\n
U.S. regulations also appear to be paving the way for a comeback. Since 1973, there has been a ban on supersonic flight over land in the U.S.<\/p>\n
In early July, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pushed by President Trump, \u00a0proposed replacing the ban with a noise standard. Supersonic flight would then be permitted if the sonic boom on the ground does not exceed 0,11 psf (pounds per square foot) – roughly the sound of a distant, muffled thud or a soft clap of thunder.<\/p>\n
The FAA is currently reviewing all comments and objections it has received. The aviation authority aims to finalize the rules by mid-2027.<\/p>\n
Although U.S. legislation has not yet been finalized, Boom is already investing hundreds of millions in the Overture.<\/p>\n
After all, in the aviation industry, the first-mover advantage counts. Whoever is the first to bring a safe, operational supersonic passenger aircraft to market will have a significant head start. Moreover, the development and certification of a new type of commercial aircraft take an average of 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n
That is why Boom Overture is anticipating a possible relaxation of the rules – not least because it is not dependent on it. After all, the U.S. ban does not apply to supersonic flight over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.<\/p>\n
If the aircraft does have to fly over land for a stretch, it will simply fly at normal speed up to about Mach 0,95, only accelerating again once it reaches the ocean.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Boom has designed the Overture to be profitable solely on the 600+ planned overwater routes, including New York-London, San Francisco-Tokyo, and Miami-London.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But before that happens, the engineers at Boom Overture still have a long way to go. After all, the promised quiet supersonic flight, with a “thump” of about 75 EPNdb (comparable to a car door slamming shut).<\/p>\n
Unlike about 105 EPNdb for the Classic Concorde boom, it has never actually been measured in practice with a commercial airliner.<\/p>\n
Despite orders from aviation giants such as United, American, and Japan Airlines – mostly conditional commitments – the Overture has never even flown, and the engine has yet to undergo its most rigorous testing phase.<\/p>\n
That does not mean, however, that a breakthrough has not been achieved. The crucial technical difference from the Concorde era is “boomless cruise,” a method for avoiding the characteristic, loud bang that occurs when breaking the sound barrier.<\/p>\n
In January 2025, Boom’s XB-1 demonstration aircraft (the first privately developed supersonic aircraft) broke the sound barrier without a sonic boom reaching the ground.<\/p>\n
Although the aircraft itself still produces a traditional sonic boom, Boomless Cruise technology makes clever use of a physical phenomenon known as the Mach cutoff.<\/p>\n
Because the speed of sound increases as you get closer to the ground, at the right combination of altitude and speed, the sound wave bends upward, back into the atmosphere, before it can hit the ground. In other words, the pilot needs to stay above a certain altitude, and the software then calculates the Mach cutoff altitude.<\/p>\n NASA is also working on a solution to the noise problem with the X-59, although they’re taking a very different approach: not through a flight technique that depends on weather conditions.<\/p>\n On some days, with certain temperature and wind profiles, there simply isn’t a combination of altitude and speed that allows the boom to deflect completely, but through the design itself.<\/p>\n With its needle-like nose and unique fuselage geometry, the X-59 is designed so that shock waves do not build up into a single loud bang but are dispersed to the sides. This allows the so-called “quiet sonic boom”.<\/p>\n However, there are two caveats. The field test with the XB-1 was conducted using a small test aircraft over an uninhabited desert, not a commercial aircraft full of passengers flying over a city.<\/p>\n Therefore, it has not yet been proven that it will operate reliably on every commercial route, given its high weather dependence.<\/p>\n And during the X-59’s first supersonic flights, a NASA F-15 chase plane flew alongside it each time for observation. That chase plane itself produces a loud, classic sonic boom, which simply drowns out the X-59’s faint “thump” sound, if there is one.<\/p>\n Consequently, even during those supersonic test flights, no one on the ground could hear whether the X-59 is quieter – it was acoustically impossible to measure due to the noise from the accompanying aircraft.<\/p>\n Concorde’s real problem, however, was never the technology, but its unsustainably high operating costs. The small market segment, the limited range, and the high cost of the jet fuel dealt the final blow to aviation’s flagship. Overture promises improvements, but it still consumes many times as much fuel per seat and per kilometer as conventional aircraft.<\/p>\n Boom Supersonic initially collaborated with Rolls-Royce, which also supplied the engines for the Concorde, but that partnership has ended.<\/p>\n Boom is now working with a coalition of specialized partners to develop the Symphony engine. Because of the use of afterburners, the Concorde’s engines consumed an enormous amount of extra fuel to maintain Mach 2. On a flight from London to New York, the aircraft consumed about 83,000 liters, which amounts to 14-17 liters per 100 km per passenger.<\/p>\n The main difference is that the Symphony engine is specifically designed to fly continuously at supersonic speeds without fuel-guzzling afterburners. Boom claims this will reduce fuel consumption per passenger by 50%.<\/p>\n However, that is still three times as high as that of modern commercial airliners: the most fuel-efficient aircraft currently in service, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, consume only 2,3 to 2,4 liters per 100 km per passenger.<\/p>\n Instead of modifying an existing engine, this engine also features a specially designed supersonic air intake and a variable, quiet exhaust nozzle.<\/p>\n By using 3D printing for parts such as fuel injectors and turbine components, the weight has been reduced, and the number of individual parts minimized, which in turn speeds up production and assembly.<\/p>\n From the very start of the project, there has also been a 100% commitment to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). But that product barely exists at scale today and is much more expensive than regular kerosene.<\/p>\n And while flying on SAF may be more environmentally friendly, there is a valid, scientifically substantiated point that is often overlooked in discussions of CO2 and fuel consumption.<\/p>\n Supersonic aircraft fly at an altitude of approximately 15,000 to 17,000 meters, compared to 9,000 to 10,000 meters for commercial airliners.<\/p>\n This difference in altitude is necessary: the thinner air in the stratosphere reduces air resistance, which is essential for reaching speeds of Mach 1,7. Because the stratosphere is much drier than the lower layer of the atmosphere (the troposphere), supersonic aircraft produce significantly fewer contrails – the likelihood of contrails is about 10 times lower than with conventional aircraft.<\/p>\n However, engine emissions pose a greater problem at that altitude. Regardless of whether an aircraft flies on traditional jet fuel or SAF, the emissions contain nitrogen oxides (NOX).<\/p>\n In the stratosphere, these substances break down the ozone layer through chemical reactions – an effect that is virtually nonexistent during flights at lower altitudes. Furthermore, water vapor and NOX linger in the stratosphere up to 20 times longer. This is because, at that altitude, there is no precipitation or vertical air mixing to quickly “wash away” the pollution.<\/p>\n Although scientists have not yet reached a consensus on exactly what the net climate impact will be – the various effects partially offset one another – the figures remain cause for concern.<\/p>\n While the established aviation industry often relies on conservative business models, Boom Supersonic has plotted a high-risk strategy: pioneering with the confidence that the market will follow once the product is available.<\/p>\n It is precisely this uncertainty that makes analysts cautious; for now, they view the slogan “the Concorde is back” primarily as a clever marketing ploy.<\/p>\n As long as there is no flying prototype and concrete performance data is lacking, the likelihood of major new orders in the short term remains limited.<\/p>\n The targeted timeline for the prototype – 2029 to 2030 – is also extremely ambitious. After all, in the aviation sector, schedules are almost always subject to delays due to the stringent technical, financial, and regulatory hurdles that must be overcome.<\/p>\n Still, the business plan behind the venture is clear. Boom intends to focus specifically on busy transoceanic routes, such as New York-London and Los Angeles-Tokyo. On these routes, supersonic speed offers maximum time savings while remaining within the aircraft’s range – approximately 7,870 km.<\/p>\n Boom is aiming for a round-trip ticket price of around $ 5,000. That is comparable to a current business-class ticket and is deliberately not in the ultra-luxury segment, as the Concorde was back then, for which travelers often paid more than 10,000 dollars.<\/p>\n “Overture will be very, very profitable for airlines at that price, because tens of millions of people are already paying those kinds of business-class fares today.”<\/p>\n Still, it’s doubtful whether the situation is as black-and-white as Boom CEO Blake Scholl claims. After all, the costly fuel problem has not yet been solved, and there is still a structural obstacle: the load factor.<\/p>\n While the Concorde has 100 seats, the Overture can accommodate only 64 to 80 passengers. Due to higher per-seat fuel costs, the load factor must be at maximum capacity virtually all the time to break even.<\/p>\n Furthermore, if not a single roughly 200-million-euro specialist aircraft has been built, the flyaway cost, the actual construction costs per aircraft, remain a major unknown.<\/p>\n The past shows just what an impact this can have: for the Concorde, major airlines once placed more than 100 option orders, but in the end, only 14 aircraft were built and put into service – and those were operated by just 2 airlines, Air France and British Airways.<\/p>\n Moreover, Boom is not the only player with supersonic ambitions. Spike Aerospace is working on the S-512, and Hermeus, which is more defense-focused, is testing aircraft that are ultimately intended to lead to a hypersonic passenger aircraft: the Halcyon.<\/p>\n Although this represents a broader industrial trend, competition from private jets should also not be overlooked.<\/p>\n While this isn’t direct market competition, both sectors are vying for the exact same target audience: travelers for whom time is considerably more valuable than money.<\/p>\n And although the Overture offers pure speed advantages on fixed routes, a scheduled flight can never match the flexibility, privacy, and comfort of a private jet.<\/p>\n At the same time, if private aviation becomes more strictly regulated in the future, Boom will be in a great position because it targets precisely that gap in the market: faster than regular business class and more affordable per seat than a private jet.<\/p>\n But it is precisely in those regulations that the problem lies. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is, in fact, moving in a completely different direction than its American counterpart, the FAA. EASA has published a proposal to explicitly ban supersonic IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flights over the European mainland. The European regulator is not yet convinced that boomless cruise technology solves the noise problem.<\/p>\n The European Association of Airport Neighbors (UECNA) supports this ban and even advocates for its further expansion: the restriction should also apply to an area over the sea near coastal regions, since a sonic boom can be heard from tens of kilometers away.<\/p>\n In other words, a lot will still have to be shot down – in test engines as well as in European regulatory debates before an Overture will be allowed to fly supersonically over cities like Paris, Brussels, or Amsterdam.<\/p>\n As things stand now, it looks like it will only be able to open the throttle all the way over the sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Travelers, aircraft manufacturers, aviation enthusiasts, and those nostalgic for the Concorde are dreaming aloud of a comeback for supersonic flight. Now that regulations in the U.S. are being amended to lift the absolute ban on supersonic flight over the country, nothing seems to stand in the way of a return of commercial flights at speeds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":193195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"n{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[77152,14496,29,28,25,7,6,4,77165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation","category-climate","category-environment","category-europe","category-legislation","category-mobility","category-technology","category-top-stories-today","category-usa"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1343&ssl=1",2560,1343,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=300%2C157&ssl=1",300,157,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=640%2C336&ssl=1",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=640%2C336&ssl=1",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=1536%2C806&ssl=1",1536,806,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=2048%2C1074&ssl=1",2048,1074,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=18%2C9&ssl=1",18,9,true],"related-thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=400%2C400&ssl=1",400,400,true],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"mailchimp":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?fit=560%2C294&ssl=1",560,294,true],"unipress-phone":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=640%2C100&ssl=1",640,100,true],"unipress-tablet":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C240&ssl=1",1536,240,true],"unipress-tablet-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C180&ssl=1",1536,180,true],"unipress-tablet-landscape":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=2048%2C180&ssl=1",2048,180,true],"unipress-smartphone":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=1080%2C168&ssl=1",1080,168,true],"unipress-wide-screen":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled22-scaled.png?resize=2560%2C180&ssl=1",2560,180,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":" Travelers, aircraft manufacturers, aviation enthusiasts, and those nostalgic for the Concorde are dreaming aloud of a comeback for supersonic flight. Now that regulations in the U.S. are being amended to lift the absolute ban on supersonic flight over the country, nothing seems to stand in the way of a return of commercial flights at speeds exceeding the speed of sound – faster than Mach 1, or well over 1,200 km\/h at sea level. The American aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic is even building the Overture, a supersonic passenger jet often regarded as the modern successor to the legendary Concorde. However, there…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Aviation<\/a>, Climate<\/a>, Environment<\/a>, Europe<\/a>, Legislation<\/a>, Mobility<\/a>, Technology<\/a>, Top Stories Today<\/a>, USA<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Luc Joris","url":"https:\/\/newmobility.news\/en\/author\/belga-5\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled66.png?resize=640%2C488&ssl=1\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled77-2.png?resize=640%2C408&ssl=1\")
Betting on SAFs<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/overture-passenger-experience-1024x768.png?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1\")
Marketing gimmick or a real chance of success?<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Overture-55.png?resize=640%2C427&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nOther concurrent<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/concorde-image-avec-d-autres-avions.png?resize=640%2C453&ssl=1\")
Don’t count on EASA<\/h4>\n