Engine maker gives up on new Concorde project

The British manufacturer of aeronautical engines Rolls-Royce, the second largest in the world after the American GE, withdrew from participating in the project of the new supersonic commercial aircraft Overture.

The announcement is a predictable bucket of cold water for the American start-up Boom, which from 2016 designed the first model of its kind since the French-British Concorde, which went out of operation 19 years ago.

“After careful consideration, Rolls-Royce has determined that the commercial supersonic aviation market is currently not a priority. It has been a pleasure to work with the Boom team,” the company said in a statement, revealed by Aviation International News.

The Boom Overture has caused a stir and skepticism in the aviation market. Unlike the usual procedure of large manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus, which offer elaborate products, the start-up presented an idea and then looked for partners to execute it.

The company claims that it is possible to resume supersonic flights due to the application of new technologies to make the engines more efficient, ecologically correct and less noisy, two of the definitive nails in the coffin of the Concorde project – which still went through the misfortune of a fatal accident in 2000, three years before he retired.

Boom’s most vulnerable point has always been the engine to use in Overture. Since the Concorde, designed between 1965 and 1976, there has been no interest in developing new turbines and other components of these engines outside of military aviation.

With a good initial push, raising US$ 250 million (R$ 1.27 billion today) until last year, Boom attracted Rolls-Royce to its venture. But statements by the British company, in recent months, hinted at disenchantment with the project, estimated at up to US$ 8 billion (R$ 41 billion).

Boom went ahead and convinced two American giants, United and American Airlines, to order 35 of the plane. American’s announcement last month was seen as proof of the concept’s feasibility, as was its partnership with the US Air Force for a VIP transport version of the plane.

On the other hand, doubts about the engine followed. Market analysts do not believe in the schedule presented by Boom, of having the plane flying in tests in 2026 and in commercial operation, in 2029.

The start-up’s president, Blake Scholl, for his part, says he will have a solution to the problem later this year. In his plan, the Overture will fly at up to 1.7 times the speed of sound (just over 2,000 km/h), shortening a London-New York trip from 6:30 to 3:30.

The company made little public of the Rolls announcement. “It has become clear that the proposed Rolls design and traditional business model are not the best options for future Overture customers,” Boom said.

Rolls, in turn, is still facing the effects of the pandemic crisis on the aviation market and problems with its Trent-1000 engine, used by American Boeing-787 planes.

The market for manufacturing aircraft engines is dominated by Rolls, GE and the also American Pratt & Whitney, which has great penetration in the military market. The latter two are now prime candidates for Boom’s partners, and have had recent bad experiences trying to develop supersonic models, all of which have been abandoned.