Major update on supersonic plane designed to fly Melbourne to Los Angeles in 8.5 hours

An American company has just got one massive step closer to a supersonic passenger plane that can cut flight times in half.

An American company designing a new passenger aircraft with the ability to fly from Melbourne to Los Angeles in just 8.5 hours has reached a significant milestone.

Colorado-based company Boom’s piloted test aircraft XB-1 broke the sound barrier for the first time with a test flight in Mojave, California on January 28.

XB-1 reached an altitude of 35,290 feet before accelerating to Mach 1.122 – becoming the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet. (Watch in the video player above).

Boom’s demonstrator aircraft XB-1 officially broke the sound barrier on January 28. Picture: Boom

“XB-1’s supersonic flight demonstrates that the technology for passenger supersonic flight has arrived,” Boom founder and chief executive Blake Scholl said.

“A small band of talented and dedicated engineers has accomplished what previously took governments and billions of dollars.”

XB-1 is all part of the process to develop a commercial supersonic aircraft called Overture, which already has orders from three airlines – Japan Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines.

“Next, we are scaling up the technology on XB-1 for the Overture supersonic airliner,” Mr Scholl said.

“Our ultimate goal is to bring the benefits of supersonic flight to everyone.”

Overture is designed to carry between 64 and 80 passengers and cut flight times in half. Picture: Boom

Boom Supersonic’s chief test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg said with the lessons learned from XB-1, they “can continue to build the future of supersonic travel”.

Boom previously told news.com.au Australians on board Overture would be able to travel to international destinations in almost half the time.

This includes Melbourne to Los Angeles in just over 8.5 hours instead of almost 14 hours, Brisbane to Shanghai in five hours instead of 10 hours, and Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur in less than five hours instead of eight hours.

Overture plans to carry 64 to 80 passengers at Mach 1.7.

The company wants to roll out the aircraft in 2026 and have their first flight in 2027, then get type certification in 2029, which would allow Overture to carry its first passengers.

Commercial supersonic flight has been on hiatus since Concorde was retired more than two decades ago after 27 years of flying. The last commercial Concorde flight landed in Bristol, England in 2003.

Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and Queen Elizabeth II were among the famous faces who flew on Concorde flights.

Musician Phil Collins famously performed at the 1985 Live Aid charity concerts in London and Philadelphia in the US on the same day thanks to Concorde.