Engineering news
The Boom company is developing an aircraft designed to cut journey times in half by flying at Mach 2.2, faster than Concorde’s cruise speed of Mach 2.
JAL invested $10m in Boom and is working to help refine the aircraft design and “define the passenger experience for supersonic travel”. The airline also has the option to purchase 20 of the aircraft through a pre-order agreement.
The purchase agreement could be much more significant, claimed avionics lecturer Steve Wright from the University of the West of England in Bristol. “In aerospace, $10m doesn’t buy you much,” he told Professional Engineering. The planes themselves could cost about $100m each, he claimed.
The companies will have to overcome several technical issues before commercial success, said Wright, the most prominent being fuel burn, range and noise from sonic booms. “It’s not about the roar of the engine, it’s the bang created by the aircraft itself, creating these vast shockwaves,” he said.
Noise from Concorde led to flights being banned over land in the US, limiting flights to transatlantic routes. Adapting new fuselage shapes to “scatter” booms could limit noise levels on the ground and let Boom planes fly on lucrative routes such as New York to Los Angeles, said Wright.
However, JAL is likely to focus primarily on transpacific routes such as Japan to California, he added.
Boom previously said it hopes to fly the XB-1 plane, which is expected to use 3D-printed parts and be smaller than Concorde, in 2018.
“We’ve been working with Japan Airlines behind the scenes for over a year now,” said Blake Scholl, founder and chief executive of Boom Supersonic. “JAL’s passionate, visionary team offers decades of practical knowledge and wisdom on everything from the passenger experience to technical operations.”
The companies hope the new plane will be reliable and easily maintained, suitable for any international airline.
“We are very proud to be working with Boom,” said Yoshiharu Ueki, president of JAL. “Through this partnership, we hope to contribute to the future of supersonic travel with the intent of providing more time to our valued passengers, while emphasising flight safety.”
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily reflect the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.