BOOM TIMES: The Triad's key airport gains respect while an aerospace innovator charts an uncertain course.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: NCTREND: Aviation

Boom Supersonic wants to assemble its super-fast, 88-seat Overture jets at Piedmont Triad International Airport, a clear confirmation of Guilford County's emergence as an aerospace industry hotspot.

The $500 million investment sounds like a dream come true for the First in Flight state and passengers who want to scoot from New York to London in three-and-a-half hours instead of six.

But don't book that flight quite yet. Boom's ability to deliver on its exciting promise hinges on solving difficult economic and environmental challenges.

The manufacturer's proposal was hailed at a Jan. 26 event featuring North Carolina's top politicians, Gov. Roy Cooper and legislative leaders Tim Moore and Phil Berger. The Denver-based company has pledged to employ as many as 2,300 workers, with an average annual salary of nearly $69,000 by 2032. Employees would build jets that cut flight time sharply at fares comparable to those charged for first-class business cabin seats.

To help win Boom's commitment, the state set aside $107 million for the airport to grade and add infrastructure on hundreds of acres including property where Boom plans an assembly plant.

At the 2017 Paris Air Show, CEO Blake Scholl said Boom's supersonic jet could be in service by 2023. He also cited a required $6 billion investment, implying significant outside financing, says Seth Miller, a New Hampshire-based industry analyst and journalist who has followed Boom for five years. Since then, Boom has disclosed orders from several operators including United Airlines, which wants 15 jets. Boom now projects supersonic travel in 2029.

"You don't have an engineering plan, you don't have a factory, you don't have the funding to build the factory," Miller notes. "So how do you transition from a cool set of renderings to actual assembly?"

"Blake tells the story very well, but ultimately there are various major milestones in the development of a new commercial aircraft program that have yet to be realized," he adds. "And they have not hit any of the big public ones."

Boom sent this comment via email: "We are on schedule with our Overture program, however we are being less open with our process for competitive and security purposes. We will reveal further information publicly when we are able to do so without risking security. United, JAL and the [U.S. Air Force] have voted with their funds based on information we've shared publicly."

North Carolina vetted Boom, of course, and is proud to have...