Ctrip, Boom Supersonic partner to bring supersonic travel to China

BEIJING - China's leading online travel agency Ctrip said it has made a strategic investment in supersonic airplane developer Boom Supersonic.

The two companies are working together to bring supersonic flight to China, according to a statement from Ctrip on Wednesday.

Ctrip will leverage its extensive knowledge of the Chinese aviation market to help Boom accelerate its ongoing partnership efforts with airlines in China, while Boom will help Ctrip explore offering its customers 10 to 15 seats on one of Boom's first several supersonic commercial flights.

The two companies aim to make the world more accessible by halving flight times from China to the United States, South Asia and Oceania.

Travel time from San Francisco to Shanghai, for example, could shrink from 11 hours to just 6 hours and a typical round-trip itinerary could be accomplished two full days faster, according to Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom.

Ctrip is making a strategic investment in the next generation of travel via the partnership, said James Liang, co-founder and executive chairman of Ctrip.

Boom is building a supersonic airliner capable of carrying 55 passengers at 2,335 kilometers per hour, more than twice as fast as current passenger aircraft.

The flight time from Shanghai to Los Angeles, currently about 12 hours, would be cut to just over 6 hours on Boom's airliner, which will begin operations in the mid-2020s.

Now the world's second largest and one of the fastest growing air market, China is expected to surpass the United States in size by 2022, according to the International Air Transportation Association.