Originally Posted by
jpezaris
Boom has been stating for a while that they would need to be subsonic overland, but would be able to take advantage of supersonic flight trans-ocean. I know that the people involved making business decisions have lots more information and resources than I do, but when I hear statements like those being attributed to Kirby (and I haven't listened to the piece, just read what's been reported here), they are missing the point: supersonic flight is aspirational. The UA order was for 100 airframes or something like that if I recall, but they only need two small handfuls, one for TPAC, one for TATL, to be able to make hay as far as I'm concerned. UA no longer flies the Queen of the Skies, so there isn't any aircraft in their fleet that inspire magic. Overture would do just that.
FAA regulations still prohibit supersonic flight over land so, their plan has to be for that until it changes. Part of their demonstrator they just built, and NASA's recent study, were to help push for a reevaluation of those regulations given the new technology.
Unfortunately Boom is a long ways off from becoming a reality commercially. For one, the engines they need don't exist yet. And two, the original speed figures have been rolled back and capacity has been increased a bit - meaning, the economics of it have shifted a bit. They are probably around 10 years away or more from it actually happening.