In a world increasingly shaped by speed and technological ambition, one American entrepreneur is redefining the very concept of flight. Blake Scholl, the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, has done what many considered impossible in modern aviation: building the world’s first private supersonic passenger jet.
With its sleek design, unmatched speed, and environmentally-conscious technology, Boom’s supersonic jet—Overture—is set to usher in a new golden age of air travel. For Scholl, a former tech executive turned aerospace visionary, this milestone is more than a personal triumph. It’s the culmination of a decade-long pursuit to reconnect the world—faster, smarter, and more sustainably.
As the first private supersonic jet built in the United States takes flight, Blake Scholl’s name joins the annals of aviation pioneers. But his journey to the skies began on solid ground, with a bold idea and a belief that supersonic travel shouldn’t be a relic of the past—it should be the foundation of the future.
A Tech Mind With a Dream to Fly
Blake Scholl didn’t begin his career in aerospace. In fact, his roots lie in technology. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Scholl’s early fascination with programming led him to pursue a computer science degree at Carnegie Mellon University. He would later go on to work for Amazon as a software engineer and then at companies like Groupon and co-found mobile marketing firm Kima Labs, which was acquired by Groupon in 2012.
But something was missing. Though he found success in Silicon Valley, Scholl’s passion for aviation never waned. He earned a pilot’s license and spent his free time flying small planes, eventually becoming captivated by the question: Why doesn’t supersonic flight exist anymore?
The question was rooted in history. After the retirement of the Concorde in 2003, supersonic commercial travel became extinct. Technological limitations, safety concerns, environmental criticisms, and costs all contributed to its demise. But Scholl believed a 21st-century version could overcome those obstacles.
In 2014, he founded Boom Supersonic, with the goal of building an environmentally responsible, economically viable, and customer-focused supersonic airliner. It was a bold vision—one that many in the aerospace world dismissed as a pipe dream. But Scholl wasn’t deterred. He was about to prove the skeptics wrong.
Building Boom: Engineering Against the Odds
From the start, Scholl’s plan was ambitious: create a supersonic passenger jet capable of traveling at Mach 1.7—more than twice the speed of today’s commercial aircraft—and sell tickets at business-class prices. That meant engineering a plane that was not only fast, but safe, affordable, and sustainable.
The initial years were marked by challenges. Aerospace development is expensive, and the technical hurdles to reintroduce supersonic travel were immense. But Scholl approached the problem like a tech entrepreneur—by hiring the best engineers, breaking down legacy assumptions, and innovating with agility.
By 2020, Boom had developed its one-third scale demonstrator jet, called XB-1, a proof-of-concept aircraft designed to test the supersonic capabilities that would one day power Overture. With successful ground tests and engine validation, XB-1 laid the groundwork for Boom’s full-scale passenger model.
Scholl’s insistence on iterative design and test cycles allowed Boom to leapfrog traditional aerospace timelines. His team combined advanced composite materials, digital modeling, and fuel-efficient propulsion systems to create a new breed of aircraft—faster than anything in the sky and greener than the Concorde ever was.
The Overture Era Begins
In 2022, Boom officially unveiled the full-scale design of its flagship aircraft: Overture. Designed to carry 64 to 80 passengers, the jet is expected to travel at Mach 1.7—cutting transatlantic flight times by up to 50%.
- New York to London? Under 3.5 hours.
- San Francisco to Tokyo? Just over 6 hours.
- Los Angeles to Sydney? An afternoon flight.
But it wasn’t just about speed. Overture was engineered with sustainability at its core. The aircraft is designed to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and built using lightweight carbon composites for efficiency and reduced emissions.
In contrast to the Concorde’s infamously loud sonic booms, Overture is optimized to fly over water routes where the noise will have minimal human impact, with future tech focusing on boom-mitigation to enable broader routes.
The jet’s sleek, gull-wing configuration, four-engine design, and safety-first aerodynamics earned attention not just from aviation enthusiasts—but from airlines. Within months of the unveiling, Boom secured pre-orders and commitments from major carriers, including United Airlines and American Airlines.
By 2025, the production facility—the “Overture Superfactory” in Greensboro, North Carolina—was well underway, signaling Boom’s intent to bring the jet to commercial skies by the end of the decade.
A Founder Who Thinks Like an Engineer, Dreams Like a Pilot
What makes Blake Scholl unique is not just his vision, but his execution. He blends the nimbleness of a startup founder with the long-game thinking of an aerospace engineer. Though he never trained as one, he immersed himself in the world of jet propulsion, aerodynamics, and flight systems, surrounding himself with a team of top talent from NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.
