The Concorde was ahead of its time. It was built on 1960s technology and, conceptually, was a brilliant idea. Just way too early.
Time has always been the most valuable thing in the universe. It is limited. If we could travel in 4 hours instead of 8, it would dramatically make the world more accessible.
I wish I could visit my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson in Hawaii at half the time. Today it takes 11 hours.
What’s Boom?
Boom is a privately held company with limited venture capital investment. They are building the next generation supersonic plane called Overture.
The company’s name is BOOM. As a brand guy, I love and hate the name at the same time.
I love it because it is the emotion of travel at supersonic speed – but I hate it because the supersonic boom was one of the problems with this type of travel. Then there is that nasty illusion of an explosion. Kaboom!
Kathy Savitt – Head Boomer
Scott Galloway, AKA Prof G, interviewed Kathy Savitt, the President and Chief Commercial Officer of BOOM Supersonic, at the Pivot MIA conference this past in Miami. In their interview, Kathy shared several fascinating nuggets about this new venture.
Boom is a mission-driven company that dramatically makes the world accessible, and the final frontier is time. They aspire to become the world’s fastest most sustainable supersonic airline. Their first plane is called Overture.
The Concorde was not sustainable economically or environmentally. It was never meant to be a commercial venture, and it was built through government funding by France and Great Britain. Concorde stopped operating after 2003, three years after an Air France crash killing all onboard. And commercial air travel suffered a severe decline after 9/11, so the Concorde was grounded.
Overture leverages 60 years of advancement in new propulsion technology, advanced materials, and some revolutionary aerodynamics – adding other innovations to create a commercial product that is twice as fast as anything flying today and sustainable and safe. They claim that they will have the certifications for safety and the passenger’s well-being, and the environment front and center in their mission.
Testing used to take physical wind tunnel models, where today you can do that with computer modeling and AI and computer engineering. One hundred million core hours of computing to thread the needle. In addition, the materials needed are dramatically different today. The Concorde used aluminum. As you flew Concorde, it grew and contracted by afoot. Carbon composites are now used to make it more efficient and handle different temperatures.
As for propulsion, the Concorde had turbojets that were loud. Overture has far more efficient and faster and sustainable practices. They designed the loud noises out of their planes.
Since 1921, no new aerospace manufacturing company has been created. The Douglas Company was the last one over 100 years ago.
There is no MVP (minimum viable product) to test. Investors like VC and PE funds often want a return in 5–7-year. But the development of a next-generation airplane takes 12-15 years. However, BOOM has gotten grants and investments from some states. In North Carolina, there will be a super factory in Greensboro, NC.
The state will build the facility and extend the runway for aviation. The U.S. Airforce is also involved with Overture to work for executive transport (Think Airforce One). Imagine cutting half the time out of that kind of international travel need.
Overture is a business class product. Business travelers are willing to pay twice the price for half travel. Time is the ultimate luxury, and business travelers’ value proposition makes sense. Imagine LA to Sydney in 8 hours or Seattle to Tokyo in 4 hours.
Fueling the Future
Supersonic will take more fuel, but speed, safety, and sustainability are the dimensions of their product design. Overture will run on sustainable aviation fuel – that’s how the propulsion system is designed and built. Overture will be a net-zero carbon approach.
In the past, Supersonic was always run over water. For Overture One – they want to build on top of innovations but not try and change regulations. So subsonic over land will be faster than today – but supersonic over water is the proper unlocking of value.
United has ordered 50 of these plans for their fleet. Overture is slated to roll out in 2025, begin test flights in 2026, and carry passengers by 2029. Japan Airlines have options for 20 too.
The idea of cutting half the time out of travel is a significant promise. Now, if they can only speed up the TSA security lines, that would make my day.
Time Marches On
Do you work in a business where you can expedite the time it takes to do something important and meaningful for customers? Is your brand faster, cheaper or better?
Can you improve efficiency in half the time of others? Are you capable of providing a service faster than others like Jokr?
Building a solution around saving time never gets old. Your brand can be made on a promise IF you can deliver a solution faster than the competition, without any quality loss.
Saving time is the ultimate value proposition for a brand.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photos courtesy of BOOM, all rights reserved.
