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OVERTURE: THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT BY WENDY LARIMER W hen the Concorde took to the skies nearly 45 years ago, travelers dreamed of taking off from New York and arriving for a London holiday in just three short hours. at dream, similar to our childhood fantasy of commuting in personal spaceships like the Jetsons, was dashed when the Concorde fleet was re- tired in 2003. But hope has returned. Colorado-based, Boom Supersonic is set to bring its new high-speed jet to the air- ways and make supersonic air travel avail- able for not private use, but commercial. e company touts that this will be the fast- est commercial airliner ever created and it is posed to dramatically change air travel. at change is coming soon. Boom plans to conduct a trial run in December with its test jet, the two-passenger XB-1 which flies at Mach 2.2—that's twice the speed of sound, about 28 miles a minute and easily twice as fast as today's airplanes. While flying two people at warp speed may not bring the masses closer to a quick getaway, the company plans to launch its commercial jet, the Overture which can ac- commodate up to 75 people, and still reach Mach 2.2 speeds, later in 2020. Airlines looking to get an edge on the competition are taking notice as Virgin Group and Japan Airlines have already put in pre-orders for 10 and 20 aircras respec- tively. e estimated sale price for the plane will be about $200 million. V U E N J . C O M 157

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