Boom Supersonic XB-1: 'New Concorde' breaks speed of sound as owner 'plans commercial trips' - when did original stop flying, how fast did it go?

Boom's Supersonic XB-1 demonstrator is the first civil aircraft to break the sound barrier since the Concorde, reaching a speed of Mach 1.1 (around 844 miles per hour). The jet broke the barrier over the Mojave desert in California on Tuesday (28 January).

This means the aircraft, flown by Boom’s chief test pilot Tristan 'Geppetto' Brandenburg, flew 10% faster than the speed of sound, reaching the speed only 12 minutes into the test flight at around 35,000 feet altitude. Brandenburg said in a Q&A after the flight: “It felt like I was climbing up a roller-coaster. It was smooth, it was predictable and it felt great.”

The start-up, founded in 2014 by CEO Blake Scholl, is hopeful it will transport passengers on its commercial airliner Overture as early as 2029. However, Jock Lowe, who was the longest-serving Concorde pilot, told LBC News there is probably "still a long way to go" before Boom's jets are commercially viable.

The Denver-based company, backed by a number of US tech investors including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, live streamed the historic moment an independently built jet broke the sound barrier. 130 orders and pre-orders have already been placed for Boom’s planned commercial plane, from American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines.

Boom’s commercial jet Overture, which they plan to use for commercial flights, is about two-thirds larger than the XB-1. It is designed to carry around 80 passengers, and would cost about $200mn to build. If it is successfully built and approved for commercial use, the Overture will be able to reach speeds of Mach 1.7, which is double the speed of the current fastest commercial planes from Boeing or Airbus.

The Concorde retired in 2003 because of an infamous crash that killed over 100 people and high running costs. It was the only supersonic commercial jet that ever flew, boasting a top speed of Mach 2 (1,354mph) - twice the speed of sound.

Flights from London to New York City lasted between three-and-a-half to four hours. Today's large airliners fly at about 600 mph, and a London to New York flight takes eight hours on average. The plane was developed by British and French scientists from 1962 and had its first flight in 1969.

Commercial flights began in 1976. Its developers believed they'd receive orders for 350 Concordes, but soaring fuel costs meant just 20 of the planes were completed. According to Simple Flying, in 1977 it cost £431 to fly one way onboard Concorde between London and Washington. Adjusted for inflation, that's about £2,200 ($2,800) in today's money.

Prices gradually went up, and by 1996, a roundtrip across the Atlantic would generally be priced at around $12,500 in today's money. The website added that by the end of the 1990s, you'd be looking at $6000 one-way fares to cross the Atlantic in a few hours.