Jul. 29—The engines for a futuristic airliner able to fly faster than the speed of sound will be made in San Antonio.
StandardAero, an aerospace company based at Port San Antonio, will produce the Symphony engine being developed by Boom Supersonic to power its new Overture airliner.
The Denver-based airplane maker said Friday it's expanding an existing maintenance, repair and overhaul partnership with StandardAero to assemble and test as many as 330 of the engines each year. The proposed assembly line will encompass more than 100,000 square feet of production space at the company's facility at the Port.
"Our collaboration is a testament to StandardAero's world-class engineering capabilities and dedication to delivering solutions that power the future of air travel," Russell Ford, chairman and CEO of StandardAero, said in a statement.
The company began working with Boom in December 2022, said Kyle Hultquist, StandardAero spokesman.
"We've got this facility and we've got experience with supersonic engine manufacturing in San Antonio," he said Monday. "So this makes for a good fit."
Hultquist referred questions about timing and the value of the deal to Boom, which didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Each Overture airliner will have four Symphony engines, each able to produce 35,000 pounds of thrust, Boom has said.
The company markets Overture as the "world's fastest airliner, optimized for speed, safety and sustainability." It will be able to fly twice as fast as traditional airliners.
Boom has received orders for 130 of the planes from American Airlines Group Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co. Ltd. It's also working with Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop military versions.
The craft is still in development. Boom said it's aiming to receive certifications from the Federal Aviation Administration and European Union Aviation Safety Agency by 2030.
"We're excited and proud to work with them," said Hultquist, the StandardAero spokesman. "We look forward to helping them achieve their vision ... it's a historic endeavor for the industry and our employees and our company are excited to be a part of that."
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