Boom Supersonic planes could mean big things for NC ‘throughout the state,’ CEO says

In the last eight years, Boom Supersonic has branded itself as the future of modern air travel. The Denver startup, founded by a former Groupon director, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from global investors and landed prominent contracts with major airlines and the U.S. Air Force. Now the company is about to build a $500 million production facility in Greensboro that could employ about 2,400 workers.

All of that comes before the company has built just a prototype of its hallmark product: a 205-foot passenger jet called Overture that will fly at almost twice the speed of sound while generating net-zero carbon emissions, according to the company.

In an exclusive interview with The News & Observer, Boom CEO and founder Blake Scholl explained the company’s confidence in its capacity for success and detailed what Boom’s arrival will mean for North Carolina.

“We were looking for a site in order to grow on because Overture’s just the start,” he said. “We’re going to be building multiple aircraft that will keep getting larger... Ultimately, we were convinced that North Carolina and Greensboro was the number one place for us to do this in the country.”

North Carolina leaders agreed. The state’s legislature awarded a more than $100 million incentives package to Greensboro’s Piedmont Triad Airport for development of Boom’s site.

Politicians and Boom’s partners are motivated by the importance of the company’s mission, according to Scholl.

“Who doesn’t want flights that are faster and more affordable and more convenient, more sustainable?” he said.

Making aviation innovations

The airline industry is overdue for a new era of innovation, Scholl believes. Technology exists for economical, and environmentally sustainable passenger jets that can deliver travelers from Newark to London, Scholl said, but no one has assembled all the right pieces. Boom’s new “Superfactory” in Greensboro will encompass plane production and testing before Overture carries its first passengers by 2029.

“The final assembly line will be there as well as ground test facilities, our flight test facility, our customer deliver facility,” Scholl said. “So every airplane that rolls off the assembly line in Greensboro will first go through some ground testing and then we’ll take to the skies and we will head out over the Atlantic Ocean not too far away for our supersonic flight testing. Then we’ll bring it back to Greensboro and hand over the keys to our airline customers.”

The manufacturing facility will infuse Greensboro and the Triad with new wealth and thousands of jobs. But Scholl expects all of North Carolina to feel an economic boost.

“One of the reasons we love North Carolina is there are already more than 200 aerospace companies, many of which will be Boom suppliers, already in the state,” he said. “And we hope that as we come to the Triad, that we’ll find that there’s more more aerospace throughout the state, because we’ll be pulling the talent and supply from all over and I would hope that we would have impact in those areas — in the Triangle and throughout the state as well.”

Reducing costs, helping the environment

Overture’s famous predecessor, the British Airways- and Air France-operated Concorde SST, was known for its prohibitive operating costs and environmental detriments. Boom plans to address the latter issue by operating exclusively on sustainable aviation fuels. Unlike traditional, petroleum-derived fuel, SAF are produced from biological waste oils, agricultural residues and non-fossil sources.

“For an environmental perspective, you need to make not just a little leap in reducing carbon emissions but completely make the entire operation net carbon zero,” Scholl said. “And so we challenged ourselves to do that and we found a solution through making Overture the first airliner that can run on 100% alternative fuels.”

The company’s XB-1 jet, a much smaller supersonic plane, has demonstrated the ability to run on SAF. Boom expects Overture will operate on the same technology.

“We’ve built and rolled out in our XB-1 prototype,” Scholl said, “...and even as we continue to make progress showing that this is tangible, this is really happening — the technology is there, the design is there, we have a team to do it — then yeah, we’re able to attract great partners.”

Achieving manageable ticket prices for the masses may be more challenging. SAF are “roughly three to five times more expensive than fossil jet fuel,” according to Lufthansa.

“This keeps the demand for SAF low and affects the production costs of it,” the German airline says on its website. “As long as the production facilities are focused on small amounts, they will never reach their highest level of efficiency.”

Prices could dip as more airlines commit to environmentally friendly operation and SAF production ramps up. But several hurdles remain.

Still, Boom has committed to upending Concorde’s tradition of serving only the wealthy.

“You have to build a supersonic airplane that is both economically and environmentally sustainable,” Scholl said. “...Ultimately, we want everyone to be able to fly supersonic.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Boom Supersonic planes could mean big things for NC ‘throughout the state,’ CEO says."

Lars Dolder

The News & Observer

Lars Dolder is editor of The News & Observer’s Insider, a state government news service. He oversees the product’s exclusive content and works with The N&O’s politics desk on investigative projects. He previously worked on The N&O’s business desk covering retail, technology and innovation.