WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Japan Airlines has invested $10 million in Denver-based startup Boom Supersonic in order to build supersonic commercial flight, which is touted to be faster and quieter than Concorde.
Boom Supersonic will develop a plane that could cut flight times in half with speeds that could touch Mach 2.2, which is more than 1,450 miles an hour. It will be 10 percent faster than the British-French joint-venture Concorde, the popular supersonic jet travel of the 1970s.
Boom has received 76 pre-orders for a 55-seat plane. The supersonic would make the trip from San Francisco to Tokyo in five and a half hours, Boom's founder Blake Scholl.
The firm said the jetliner is expected to enter service by the mid 2020s.
Japan Airlines has the option to purchase up to 20 Boom aircraft and will assist the company's efforts in the aircraft's design and passenger experience, the companies said on Tuesday. Last year, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson announced that his company had options on the first 10 Boom jets.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX