Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, partnering with Boom Technology, expects fares to run around $5,000 per ticket, roughly in line with the cost of a business-class seat today, Architectural Digest reported. Boom will rely on Virgin Galactic, Branson’s space tourism company, for flight-test and manufacturing assistance.
Boom expects that improved engine technology along with increasingly sophisticated materials such as carbon composites will help the company become operationally sound, according to the magazine. Boom recently agreed to terms with Honeywell International Inc. to supply the start-up with avionics, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The company hopes to improve upon the model offered by the Concorde, a now-retired supersonic passenger aircraft that struggled to offer affordable tickets while keeping operating margins in check, according to the news outlet.
Baby Boom is a one-third scale realization of the Boom airliner that “will demonstrate in flight the key technologies for practical supersonic travel,” the company said in a blog post. Baby Boom will fly in 2017, intending to set a record for the fastest civilian aircraft in history.
