Officials: Boom aims to build supersonic jets in N. Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Colorado-based aviation company wants to build a plant for next-generation supersonic passenger jets at a North Carolina airport, government officials said Wednesday as local and state boards approved hefty financial incentives for the parent company of Boom Supersonic.

If successful, the manufacturing and testing operation at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro could generate at least 1,750 jobs in the region by 2030, according to local and state officials, while cutting flight times significantly for a post-Concorde generation of consumers.

A state incentives panel voted to provide cash incentives over 20 years to Boom Technology Inc. should the company meet plant investment and job-creation goals. The award explanation describes a $500 million investment by the end of 2030.

Jacksonville, Florida, and Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, were also in the running for the plant, according to a state Commerce Department official who briefed the committee in public. Greensboro's city council also identified Boom Technology on Wednesday morning while approving local incentives.

A company spokesperson declined comment on the incentives until a formal announcement. Gov. Roy Cooper scheduled an economic development announcement at the airport for Wednesday afternoon.

Boom is one of several companies trying to revive supersonic passenger travel, which died with the grounding of the Concorde nearly two decades ago. Boom has built a one-third-size demonstrator aircraft called the XB1, but now it faces the daunting challenge of bulking that up.

Many technical and manufacturing hurdles still must be overcome to offer to airline companies Boom's Overture plane, which would carry 65 to 88 passengers, consume so-called sustainable aviation fuel and cruise at 60,000 feet...