Blake Scholl: Why Plane Speed Stalled, Supersonic Commercial Flight, & Revolutionizing the Engine

What happened in this episode?

Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl argues that commercial aviation has seen decades of stalled speed progress, contrasting the 1969 Concorde era with today’s subsonic passenger travel and claiming Boeing has not launched a clean-sheet airliner in a generation. He recounts Boom’s early fund-raising, including pitching Jeff Bezos in 2015 and being rebuffed, and describes Boom’s XB-1 test aircraft as the first privately developed jet to break the sound barrier.

Scholl says Boom demonstrated “boomless cruise” (also known as “Mach cut-off”), describing it as using atmospheric refraction so a normal-strength sonic boom “never touches the ground”. He claims the US overland supersonic ban dating to 1973 was lifted by executive order on 6 June last year, and says the company has sought to make the change permanent through Congress, citing unanimous votes.

He also details a shift to building an engine in-house after ending a public partnership with Rolls-Royce, and argues that vertically integrated digital design and manufacturing will make the company financially valuable. Scholl says Boom’s first engine core will go to a test stand “next month” and suggests a first product may be trailerised power generation for data centres, claiming 42MW per deployment and no water requirement. In a brief Q&A, he gives an indicative break-even transatlantic return fare of about $3,500 and suggests an aspirational entry-into-service timeline of roughly four years, while cautioning against firm predictions. He praises the speed of the current US administration’s engagement with the company, describing rapid access to White House staff after the supersonic milestone.

What are the key points?

• Blake Scholl claims Boom’s XB-1 was the first privately developed jet to break the sound barrier.
• He describes “boomless cruise” (Mach cut-off) as redirecting sonic booms upwards so they do not reach the ground, up to roughly Mach 1.3.
• Scholl says a 1973-era US ban on overland supersonic flight was lifted by executive order on 6 June last year, and that legislation to codify it has advanced with unanimous votes.
• He says Boom abandoned outsourcing its engine, publicly split with Rolls-Royce, and is now developing and manufacturing an engine core in-house.
• Scholl claims Boom’s first commercial application could be trailerised, behind-the-meter power generation for data centres at 42MW, without water needs.
• He estimates a break-even transatlantic return fare at Mach 1.7 of about $3,500 and suggests a goal of around 2030 for service, while saying timelines are uncertain.

Who is speaking?

Named speakers identified in Egleze's source-linked moments from this episode.

• Blake Scholl

Which topics are covered?

How is this page sourced?

Programme

All-In Podcast

Published

22 September 2026

Duration

17m

Original episode

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