Boom Supersonic wishes to improve supersonic passenger flights, and now has a new partner in its mission – Japan Airlines (JAL), one of the leading passenger flight providers in the world. JAL is putting US$10 million into Boom through a strategic investment, and is also intending to help Boom with aircraft design and aspects of in-flight passenger experience.

JAL has the option to buy up to twenty Boom Supersonic aircraft once these become commercially available and this adds to existing orders from carrieres that Boom has in place, bringing the total to 76 planes accounted for across 5 global airlines.

According to Boom founder & CEO Blake Scholl, Japan Airlines had been working with Boom for more than a year, but that more clearly formalized the relationship. 

Boom is currently in the process of choosing a production site for its aircraft. The company hopes to have its new commercial jet in service by 2023. Boom's supersonic subscale demonstrator jet, XB-1, is still on track to fly the first test flight by the end of next year.