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Getting to London in Three Hours
That is the goal for Boom Supersonic as they develop their faster than sound flights. Here is Grady Trimble with a look back at when they took a big leap forward toward that goal. Live on Fox Business.

I think they just broke the sound barrier, didn't they? It just happened. Stu, we're watching with a crowd here. We heard them cheer. They're at around 35,000 ft, Mach 1.07 right now, about to approach Mach 1.1. And that is, of course, supersonic. Faster than the speed of sound.

I'll tell you from the experience on the ground here, because this plane is so high, we did not hear that characteristic boom that you would expect to hear with supersonic flights, but that's because it's flying at 35,000 ft. But we can confirm that this plane, XB-1, the prototype plane, the precursor to commercial supersonic travel, just hit Mach 1.1. They hope to fly passengers in it in the next five years or so.

And actually, Stu, if we have time, the CEO of Boom is right here with us. If we can bring him in. This is Blake Scholl. We talked to him earlier today. This is a huge milestone for your company, Blake. It feels incredible. Right now, we're supersonic, literally as we speak. What do you say to the people who are skeptical that a private company, without a government helping you out, can develop a supersonic commercial jetliner?

Well, it's definitely not easy. But I'm a big believer that small, driven teams that are focused on a goal that really matters can accomplish big things. People said we couldn't build a supersonic jet, but it looks like we have. Some people say we won't be able to build a supersonic airliner. Well, we'll find out.

And joining me now, Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl, we just heard your response to critics who say that you cannot build a supersonic airliner. Where do things stand now after that amazing breakthrough back in January?

Yeah, it's, you know, this is an overnight success, ten years in the making. We've already accomplished lots of things that the critics said would never be possible. From building a prototype airplane that could break the sound barrier, solving sonic boom in a practical way, no audible sonic boom on the ground, and doing that with a tiny team, just 50 people and essentially no government funding.

So now the airliner is bigger, it's more challenging, it's safety critical in a whole new way. But this is just basic engineering. All the technology is there. And I'm a big believer that teams that believe in a mission, that believe in a purpose and are willing to go all in can accomplish the so-called impossible.

Well, you know, the CEO of United Airlines, this is Michael Leskinen. He was at a conference, and he actually brought you up. And he said, and I know that you've already struck a deal with them and they've done a preorder, he said, because the customers are there, the demand is there. It's just getting it, the technology and getting the planes up and in the air. Talk about the time frame for you and your corporate partners, which to be clear, is American, United, and Japan Airlines.

Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I mean, I don't know a single person who doesn't want a faster flight, provided it's safe and affordable and comfortable. And Concorde really missed on all three of those built in the 1960s. Today we've got so much better technology. We've got aerodynamics, materials, propulsion, computer-aided design that are just light years ahead of where we used to be.

And so as we stand here today, we know all the technology works. We know the airlines want it. We know the passengers want it. We're in the process of scaling up. So we're going to see our first full-scale engine running in just a few months. And then we're going to scale up the airplane and we'll have an Overture in the skies in just a few years. And our goal is to be ready to carry passengers by the end of the decade.

Yeah. From Paris to New York, four hours versus what it is eight hours right now. New York to London, three hours, 40 minutes right now it takes seven hours. And then of course, the cost. You know, I think the target here is about, what, $3,500 per round trip ticket? Just for these flights I just mentioned. But you've got a lot of critics out there. They're saying that supersonic travel is simply too costly. And that really is what took out the Concorde. And the CEO of Air France has actually been critical of you. Respond to that criticism.

You know, the nice thing is critics don't invent the future. Innovators do. And you know what? We're looking at relative to Concorde, which really was too unaffordable, $20,000 a ticket, that's for royalty and rock stars. But today we're going to be able to do this for the price of a business class ticket, which is something that tens of millions of people already pay for day in and day out, every day of the year. And over time, as we continue to scale, innovate, gain efficiencies, that cost is going to come down.

Just go back 50 years when we used to make airplanes faster routinely, of course, from the Wright brothers through to 1958, when we had the first jets, we routinely improved the speed of travel, the comfort of travel, the cost of travel. And the last half century, we've been living in a dark age of travel where we haven't gone faster and we've made air travel from going from an experience that people used to be inspired by to one they dread. None of that is necessary. We can go forward. We just have to be committed and continue to innovate and stay dedicated to the mission. It's all possible.

Blake Scholl, thank you for being here.
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