Supersonic airliner in doubt as company shifts to powering AI data centers

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Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl recently declared “it’s time for a renaissance in energy and in supersonic flight” as the supersonic airliner company unveiled a Colorado factory dedicated to making gas turbines for AI data centers. But Boom may be facing turbulence after early backers for both ventures have questioned the company’s delivery timeline or backed out entirely.

Boom Supersonic 首席执行官布莱克·肖尔（Blake Scholl）最近宣称“现在是能源和超音速飞行复兴的时刻”，与此同时，这家超音速客机公司在科罗拉多州揭幕了一家专门为人工智能数据中心制造燃气轮机的工厂。然而，在两项业务的早期支持者质疑该公司的交付时间表或完全退出后，Boom 可能正面临动荡。

One of the company’s first customers, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, has expressed doubts about Boom’s original plan to deliver the first Overture supersonic airliner in 2029. Kirby’s latest frank assessment came during an interview with the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast that appeared on October 28, 2026. “‘29 is their official timeline,” Kirby told podcast host Monica Langley. “It’s not going to happen in ‘29—it’s going to take longer.”

作为该公司首批客户之一，联合航空首席执行官斯科特·柯比（Scott Kirby）对 Boom 原定于 2029 年交付首架 Overture 超音速客机的计划表示怀疑。柯比在 2026 年 10 月 28 日播出的《办公时间：商业版》（Office Hours: Business Edition）播客采访中给出了最新的坦率评估。“29 年是他们的官方时间表，”柯比告诉播客主持人莫妮卡·兰利（Monica Langley）。“这不会在 29 年实现——还需要更长的时间。”

Boom first made headlines for flying its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft in 2024 and 2025 to demonstrate a “boomless cruise” concept that harnesses the Mach cutoff phenomenon. Such a feat involves flying just beyond supersonic speeds at higher altitudes under specific atmospheric conditions, so that the aircraft’s shockwaves refract upward and minimize the impact on the ground.

Boom 最初因在 2024 年和 2025 年试飞其 XB-1 验证机而登上头条，该机旨在展示一种利用“马赫截止”（Mach cutoff）现象的“无音爆巡航”概念。这一壮举涉及在特定大气条件下于更高海拔以略超音速的速度飞行，使飞机的冲击波向上折射，从而最大限度地减少对地面的影响。

The company’s plan to revive supersonic air travel has been backed by the Trump administration via efforts to ease regulations. In June 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a new rule overturning a long-standing ban on commercial supersonic flights over the United States, following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

该公司复兴超音速航空旅行的计划得到了特朗普政府通过放宽监管所提供的支持。继唐纳德·特朗普总统签署行政命令后，美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）于 2026 年 6 月提出了一项新规，推翻了长期以来禁止在美国上空进行商业超音速飞行的禁令。

Boom’s press releases have previously described achieving aircraft certification and carrying the first paying customers by 2029. The company has conditional agreements with American Airlines, Japan Airlines, and United Airlines involving non-refundable deposits of unknown amounts that would allow the airlines to fully purchase the Overture aircraft once it becomes commercially available.

Boom 此前在新闻稿中称，计划在 2029 年前获得飞机认证并搭载首批付费乘客。该公司与美国航空、日本航空和联合航空达成了附带条件的协议，涉及金额未知的不可退还押金，这将允许这些航空公司在 Overture 客机实现商业化后进行全面采购。

But United CEO Kirby pointed out that Boom still has “a lot of hurdles to overcome” while developing Overture and getting the supersonic airliner certified by the FAA. “So it’s not a guarantee that they’ll overcome,” he cautioned during the podcast interview, even though he praised Scholl and the company in general. This follows Kirby’s earlier comments back in March that put the chances of Boom’s Overture airliner entering commercial service at “50-50.”

但联合航空首席执行官柯比指出，Boom 在开发 Overture 并获得 FAA 对该超音速客机的认证过程中，仍有“许多障碍需要克服”。尽管他在播客采访中总体上称赞了肖尔和该公司，但他仍提醒道：“所以他们能否克服这些障碍并无保证。”此前，柯比在 3 月份曾评论称，Boom 的 Overture 客机进入商业服务的可能性为“五五开”。

Although Boom completed building the factory intended for production of the Overture airliner in 2024, the facility located at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, has mostly sat dormant since that time. That has raised questions for North Carolina state leaders who provided more than $50 million in taxpayer funding to help build the Overture factory.

尽管 Boom 已于 2024 年完成了旨在生产 Overture 客机的工厂建设，但位于北卡罗来纳州格林斯伯勒皮埃蒙特三角国际机场的该设施自那时起基本处于闲置状态。这引起了北卡罗来纳州领导人的质疑，他们曾提供超过 5000 万美元的纳税人资金来帮助建设该工厂。

Since October 2025, NASA has separately been doing test flights involving the experimental X-59 with a long, needle-like nose designed to reduce the sonic booms from supersonic flight. But this is a completely different approach than Boom’s use of the Mach cutoff flights.

自 2025 年 10 月以来，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）一直在单独进行涉及实验性 X-59 飞机的试飞，该飞机拥有长针状机头，旨在减少超音速飞行产生的音爆。但这与 Boom 使用的“马赫截止”飞行方法完全不同。

Much of Boom’s recent focus has been on developing natural gas turbines to power AI data centers as an additional revenue stream. On October 22, the company unveiled another factory in Centennial, Colorado, dedicated to producing a 42-megawatt natural gas turbine called Superpower for data centers.

Boom 最近的重心很大程度上转向了开发天然气轮机，为人工智能数据中心供电，以此作为额外的收入来源。10 月 22 日，该公司在科罗拉多州森特尼尔揭幕了另一家工厂，专门生产名为“Superpower”的 42 兆瓦数据中心天然气轮机。

The Trump administration’s public support of Boom was once again evident as US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright participated in the event alongside Colorado Governor Jared Polis. Boom described its new Superpower factory as making turbine parts while still undergoing construction. It aims to deliver the first gas turbines to AI data center customers in mid-2027 while ramping up annual production to 25 turbines in 2028 and 50 turbines by 2029.

美国能源部长克里斯·赖特（Chris Wright）与科罗拉多州州长贾里德·波利斯（Jared Polis）共同出席了此次活动，特朗普政府对 Boom 的公开支持再次显现。Boom 表示，其新的 Superpower 工厂在进行建设的同时也在制造涡轮机部件。该公司的目标是在 2027 年年中向人工智能数据中心客户交付首批燃气轮机，并计划在 2028 年将年产量提高到 25 台，到 2029 年达到 50 台。

Boom’s detour into powering data centers coincides with many tech companies prioritizing natural gas as the primary power source to get their projects up and running. Some data center developers are even using “mobile gas generators strapped to semitrucks” or “aeroderivative turbines originally designed for aircraft and warships,” according to the market intelligence platform Cleanview.

Boom 向数据中心供电领域的转型，正值许多科技公司将天然气作为启动项目的主要能源之际。据市场情报平台 Cleanview 称，一些数据中心开发商甚至在使用“绑在半挂卡车上的移动燃气发电机”或“最初为飞机和军舰设计的航空衍生燃气轮机”。

However, Boom CEO Scholl also acknowledged the recent loss of a $1.25 billion deal that would have seen data center developer Crusoe purchase 29 of Boom’s gas turbines, in a post on the social media platform X on September 25. Crusoe has been involved in building Texas data centers for Oracle, Google and Microsoft that draw upon various power sources including natural gas and renewables.

然而，Boom 首席执行官肖尔在 9 月 25 日于社交媒体平台 X 上发布的一篇文章中也承认，最近失去了一笔价值 12.5 亿美元的交易，该交易原定由数据中心开发商 Crusoe 购买 29 台 Boom 的燃气轮机。Crusoe 一直参与为甲骨文、谷歌和微软建设德克萨斯州的数据中心，这些中心利用包括天然气和可再生能源在内的多种能源。

Scholl said Boom “will be delivering about 250MW of Superpowers next year to other sites” but did not specify the AI data center customers that may be using the gas turbines. Still, Boom has characterized the development of a gas turbine for data centers as being synergistic with its design of the Symphony engine for the Overture airliner.

肖尔表示，Boom “明年将向其他站点交付约 250 兆瓦的 Superpower 机组”，但并未具体说明可能使用这些燃气轮机的人工智能数据中心客户。尽管如此，Boom 仍将数据中心燃气轮机的开发描述为与其 Overture 客机 Symphony 发动机设计具有协同效应。

During the October announcement, it also described having completed a prototype turbine core, called Sprint Core, that is intended to eventually power both the Superpower gas turbine and Symphony engine for the airliner. That turbine core is set to undergo testing at the Colorado Air & Space Port, with Boom planning to fire the turbine for the first time before Thanksgiving. That would be a concrete development milestone, but the company still has much to do in providing.

在 10 月的公告中，该公司还描述了已完成名为“Sprint Core”的涡轮机原型核心，该核心旨在最终为 Superpower 燃气轮机和 Overture 客机的 Symphony 发动机提供动力。该涡轮机核心计划在科罗拉多航空航天港进行测试，Boom 计划在感恩节前首次点火测试该涡轮机。这将是一个具体的开发里程碑，但该公司在交付方面仍有许多工作要做。