In the race to re-establish supersonic travel for the general public, the Boom Supersonic company has managed to overcome several problems and continues with its Overture project, which they intend to have in service before the end of this decade and for which they already have important orders. of United Airlines and American Airlines.
But for now they have a very slight problem to continue with the development, and that is that Rolls-Royce, which had partnered for the project, decided to withdraw after considering that the supersonic commercial aircraft market was not a business priority for the company, for Of course because they don't see a lot of engines needed in the future for the investment that is required.
Boom recently updated its Overture aircraft concept from 3 to 4 engines to achieve the necessary performance, but even using 4 engines per aircraft doesn't seem like a big enough market. In addition to Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney had already said that it was not interested, despite the fact that the Boom Supersonic project seems to be an interesting business model with some interest from the airlines. However, its president of commercial engines, Rick Deurloo, stated that for now they are 100% focused on the development of variants of their GTF engine, since for the single-aisle market they see a business of around 10,000 engines.
As if that were not enough, the rest of the players such as General Electric Aviation, Safran Aircraft Engines and Honeywell, quickly set themselves apart by stating that they have no interest in producing engines of the type that a project such as Boom requires. What options are left?
Well, we are not very sure, but he stated that despite the speculation that has been unleashed after the departure of Rolls-Royce, he affirms that the company is in talks with other active partners, so it can be said that Boom works with several partners for the development of the power plant required for the plane and expect to make a formal announcement before the end of the year on the engines for the Overture.
What is a fact is that very specialized engines are required because the performance at supersonic speed is very different, so the engine airflow technology is very different from what we see in subsonic commercial aircraft. And without them the Overture cannot reach production despite the orders it has. So, for the good of the project, let's really hope that they find one or several partners soon who can deliver the right engine in a timely manner to make supersonic travel a reality again.
For advertising opportunities press HERE.
Comments