Boom Supersonic is expanding beyond aircraft development with a Colorado factory intended to manufacture gas turbines for artificial-intelligence data centers. However, the company faces growing uncertainty over its timelines for both businesses, as early backers question delivery targets and some investors or customers reconsider their involvement.
“It’s time for a renaissance in energy and supersonic flight,” Boom CEO Blake Scholl said as the company announced the factory. The expansion comes as one of Boom’s earliest airline customers, United Airlines, publicly expressed doubts about the company’s target for delivering its Overture supersonic passenger aircraft.
United CEO questions Boom’s 2029 target
United CEO Scott Kirby discussed Boom’s schedule during an interview on the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, which appeared on October 28, 2026.
“’29 is their official timeline,” Kirby told host Monica Langley. “It’s not going to happen in 2029. It’s going to take a lot longer.”
Boom has previously said it would certify the Overture and carry its first paying passengers by 2029. The company has conditional agreements with American Airlines, Japan Airlines and United Airlines that include unspecified non-refundable deposits. Those agreements are intended to allow the airlines to purchase Overture aircraft once the plane becomes commercially available.
Boom’s supersonic flight plans
The company’s plans also involve the XB-1 demonstrator, which Boom planned to fly in 2024 and 2025. The source links those efforts to the Mach cutoff phenomenon. Under certain atmospheric conditions, aircraft flying at supersonic speeds and high altitudes can refract their shock waves upward, reducing their effects on the ground.
Boom’s effort to revive commercial supersonic air travel has received support from the Trump administration’s deregulation agenda. In June 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed rules that would overturn a long-standing ban on commercial supersonic flights over US airspace. The proposal followed a presidential order from President Donald Trump.
A second business focused on AI data centers
In addition to developing the Overture, Boom is establishing a Colorado manufacturing operation for gas turbines intended to supply AI data centers. The move expands the company’s ambitions into energy infrastructure, but it also adds another business whose schedule and commercial prospects will be watched closely as questions mount over the company’s aircraft-delivery plans.
Boom has described the Overture as part of its long-term commercial strategy in company press materials and a release announcing its American Airlines agreement. United’s latest assessment, however, suggests that the first passenger flights may arrive substantially later than Boom’s stated 2029 target.
Source: arstechnica.com