Comments by "VisibilityFoggy" (@VisibilityFoggy) on "United Airlines Orders Up To 50 Boom Supersonic Aircraft" video.

  1. In some ways, the shortened flight time could translate into diminished value. If I'm paying first class prices from the U.S. east coast to Europe, for example, my flight will usually take off 7:30pm-ish and get there in the early morning (Euro time). Plenty of hours to enjoy food, drink and rest. For me personally, there isn't a gigantic rush on these flights because of the times they depart. I almost never book anything above economy for a flight less than three hours on a mainline carrier because I don't really see the value in it for such a short journey. On long-haul flights, I justify the upgrade fees because I'm spending so much more time in the air and want to be comfortable. I feel like this is something I'd take once or twice for the experience of it, but never do it again because there's no compelling reason for it. I could see myself wanting to go supersonic to South America, though, to save time since those flights (as they currently are scheduled) usually leave in the morning (eastern time) and involve a connection. If I could fly direct to Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires in half the time, that'd be worth it to me. I'd throw Bogota in there too, except I never personally fly there (and they're not going to have a supersonic route to Medellin or Cartagena) but it's another major route to consider.
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  2.  @Marylandbrony  - New York to Miami is already just a 2.5 hour flight. No airline is going to use a high-end supersonic aircraft on this route. There's no real demand for a flight from New York to Florida to come in at one hour instead of two. Now, I could definitely see routes operating out of Miami, Tampa or Orlando to Europe as there is a decent amount of passenger demand there. For north-south routes, the viable ones, offhand, to me would be NYC to Rio de Janeiro, NYC to Buenos Aires, NYC to Bogota (substitute NYC with PHL, DC, etc. for other northeast routes depending on demand from other cities).
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  3. Hmm. Keep in mind, I'm just thinking out loud here.... but.... By 2029, the Northrop B-21 bomber should be in production. The rumor mill is that it will have a low bypass engine capable of going supersonic without afterburner. So there's always the potential for a civilian variant of that to emerge over the next decade. Second point: yes, this is a REALLY BIG long-shot, but the RD-33B/NB engine developed for a Russian attack plane (which lost to the Su-25) is a low-bypass, non-afterburning engine. A variant with afterburner is currently used in the JF-17 fighter which is currently in production, and in theory there's a chance they could tinker with it again. Not sure if United or Boom would be allowed to import these engines, though, since they're of Russian origin and used today in a joint Chinese-Pakistani jet.
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  4. Doubt they'll be jealous. Pan Am and TWA both had orders for the Concorde and I don't think anyone in America made a big deal about it as if it was some kind of national disgrace. And it's not as if Airbus or BAE couldn't develop a supersonic plane if they really wanted to do so. Actually, this plane looks like a nice homage to the Concorde. I don't see why European airlines wouldn't buy it if it made sense for them. All of the major airlines have mixed fleets of American and European aircraft (plus Embraer in the mix). The world is pretty small these days. If anything, it would be nice if this sets off some competition in the supersonic flight world and lowers prices for everyone.
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  5. It will be interesting to see if Boom gets scooped up by General Dynamics, Lockheed or Northrop. Boom has always been a venture-funded firm and the goal of the founder/CEO is always a big exit in these situations. I could see one of the defense contractors buying them out and leveraging their existing tech for an inroad into the civilian market with Boeing faltering. There is also some scuttlebutt that the Boom Overture may be tapped for Air Force One since the 747 is out of production. This would lend itself to such a scenario.
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  6. It'll probably be 1.5x the cost of first class on a conventional airliner.
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