Counterpoint: fast, accessible in flight Wifi is a reality now. It means that flights aren’t anywhere near the kind of “dead” time they used to be.

I’m sure some CEOs will pay whatever it costs to boost their own egos but IMO that would push them towards private jets, not a supersonic flight with United. I find the actual arguments for faster flights less persuasive than they were in the 70s.

There are far more CEOs earning ~$500k/year than there are making private jet money. I've worked for a half dozen pretty successful SMEs and all of the C-Suite flew business class and I suspect they'd all take the option to cut a few hours off their trip if it was within 50% of the price of a standard business class ticket.

For that matter, you can get into fairly large public enterprises where the CEO is making well into the millions and they are not routinely flying private for a variety of reasons--but will routinely take premium commercial.

Private is expensive. For fun I looked into it a few years ago. I never did figure out how much a share buy in was (6 figures at least), but once you have a buy in each flight is still $7000 for a domestic flight (up to 6 people same price) My entire family can fly just over 1000, though that is coach not first class. Even if you fly first class private planes are a large step up in price.

Premium air travel is also much more comfortable than it was in the 70s. First class was more akin to domestic business class today than modern lie flat seating much less the real premium roomettes on some airlines.

The connectivity probably does make a difference for some. Personally, I appreciate the disconnect time.

Being on a plane isn't technically dead time, but no matter what, it's still much more comfortable being on the ground.

And taking 6 hours total out of your flying time means you have 6 more hours to enjoy your destination. Unless I was a celebrity that would get hounded by the public, I'd rather do TSA Pre-check + first class supersonic than a private jet.

The caveat for me is that I wouldn't trust a startup that is behind its timelines to create a safe aircraft without further information.

Supersonic means you can do London-New York for a afternoon meeting in a day trip. Leave Wednesday 8AM(UK) flight, arrive 6AM(11) in New York for an 8AM(13) breakfast meeting, finish up about 1pm(18) and you're on the 3pm(20) flight and back home for midnight(UK).

According to Boom, they are aiming for fares to be the same price or cheaper than today's business class travel.

Plus I imagine many of the ultrarich that you are talking about would prefer to fly private even if it is slower than flying commercial. Flying private also cuts into the time saving benefit of supersonic flight. You save time pre-flight as you can basically drive up to the plane, get in, and be immediately ready for takeoff rather than needing to arrive an hour or two early. And private flights operate on your personal schedule which is obviously much more convenient than organizing your schedule around someone else's timing.

Private flights also go where you need to. Not a big deal if you are headquartered in a hub and have business at a different hub, but as you have business in distance places a private plane ends up a lot faster because you don't have to wait in hub airports. I know my company keeps a flight crew in Frankfort Germany so that the CEO on trips from US to India they can land, refuel and change pilots and be off in 15 minutes. (I'm not clear if the crew lives there, or just flys commercial the day before) Though if supersonic airplanes were affordable I believe the CEO makes the US-Asia trip often enough to buy one.

I think this is key. There are now a lot more rich people who would pay for the speed, and just as importantly a chance to avoid the hoi polloi, than 4 decades ago.