Air carrier Japan Airlines made a $10m strategic investment in US-based supersonic aviation developer Boom Supersonic on Tuesday.
Boom is developing a supersonic aircraft intended to be capable of flying from New York to London in approximately 195 minutes. Japan Airlines now holds the option to pre-order up to 20 of the planes, which are due to launch sometime in the mid-2020s.
Boom received $33m in series A funding in March 2017 from venture capital firms 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Palm Drive Ventures and RRE Ventures as well as VC fund Y Combinator Continuity, part of the accelerator Y Combinator, according to TechCrunch.
The company’s earlier investors also include VC firm Lightbank as well as angel investors Paul Graham, Sam Altman and Greg McAdoo. It has raised $51m altogether, according to Reuters.
Yoshiharu Ueki, president of Japan Airlines, said: “Through this partnership, we hope to contribute to the future of supersonic travel with the intent of providing more ‘time’ to our valued passengers while emphasising flight safety.”