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Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl wants to bring back flights that break the sound barrier. Now he just needs to figure out whether airlines and travelers will buy in.
When the Concorde was grounded in 2003, done in by strained economics and a fiery crash on a Paris runway, it appeared to be the end of the line for supersonic travel. Nothing emerged to replace it. In fact, the speed of air travel moved in the opposite direction, with many routes getting slower in recent years as congestion and air-traffic control inefficiencies jammed up the skies.
A former Amazon software engineer named Blake Scholl founded a company to change this. A decade ago, he launched Boom Supersonic, betting that his Denver-based startup could tap in to the allure of ultrafast travel—a desire that has never quite been extinguished despite the financial and practical challenges that ended the Concorde’s nearly 30-year run. Scholl sees a world where round-trip trans-Atlantic business journeys happen in a single day.
“The thinking has been, ‘Supersonic flight would obviously be great, but nobody is doing it so therefore it must be impossible,’ ” the 44-year-old chief executive said during a recent interview. “Not true.”
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Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the expected impact of tariffs on the jet maker’s bottom line remains unchanged after a federal court struck down many of President Trump's trade levies. Ortberg, speaking Thursday at an event, said he expects the U.S. to eventually win duty exemptions on plane parts from Italy and Japan, which comprise the bulk of Boeing’s imported parts. The U.S. has reached a trade deal framework with the U.K.
Given that, Ortberg said, the biggest tariff-related threat facing Boeing remains retaliatory tariffs from other governments. The company got caught in the crosshairs of the U.S.-China trade war last month when Chinese airlines halted deliveries of Boeing jets. China has since allowed deliveries to resume. Ortberg said that Chinese airlines have told the company they will resume taking deliveries of Boeing jets next month.
“We have to make sure we don’t have other regions where we take retaliatory tariffs,” he said. Boeing’s status as the largest U.S. exporter also presents an opportunity, he said, as the Trump administration pushes nations to rebalance trade relationships. “There is no better way to do that quickly than through the purchase of aircraft,” he said. Boeing has said it expects U.S. import tariffs to cost the company less than $500 million this year.
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Boeing also admitted to conspiracy to obstruct Federal Aviation Administration operations Boeing will pay $1.1 billion to avoid prosecution for two crashes of its 737 MAX jets. The agreement with the Justice Department requires the company to put $455 million toward strengthening its compliance, safety and quality programs, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday. Boeing will also give $444.5 million to the families of crash victims under the agreement, which was tentatively reached last month. Boeing is required to pay a criminal monetary penalty of $487.2 million, half of which was paid in 2021 under a previous agreement. The new deal means Boeing avoids a trial that was scheduled to start June 23 in connection with the two crashes, which left 346 people dead.
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The jet maker said it could deliver more planes this quarter than previously forecast. Boeing's chief financial officer said the jet maker was on track to deliver more planes and burn less cash this quarter than previously expected, boosting its stock early Wednesday.
“We think we’re off to a good start for the year,” Chief Financial Officer Brian West said at an investor conference.
Boeing burned through nearly $14 billion last year as it waded through a quality-control crisis and other snafus, and previously said it expected to add $4 billion to that tally this quarter.
But West said Wednesday the company may burn hundreds of millions of dollars less than anticipated.
He also said jet deliveries could be higher than previously expected. Boeing delivered 89 planes in January and February, up from 54 in the first two months of 2024 immediately following the Alaska Airlines fuselage panel blowout.
Boeing shares rose more than 6% in morning trading following West's comments.
West said the company wasn't sweating the potential financial fallout from tariffs at this point.
The vast majority of parts for Boeing’s commercial and military jets and other equipment comes from the U.S., and the company has an extensive parts backlog after production was slowed or shut down for much of last year.
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