Boom breaks ground on supersonic jet factory in North Carolina

Boom Supersonic, a Colorado aviation startup trying to resurrect supersonic passenger jets, broke ground on its manufacturing facility in Greensboro Thursday — a significant step in the company's ambitious plans in North Carolina.

Why it matters: If Boom is successful in recreating the supersonic jet, it could lead to an explosion of manufacturing jobs in Greensboro, where it would assemble and test the jets.

• The company has made plans to hire 2,400 workers by 2030 and invest more than half a billion dollars at Piedmont Triad International Airport.
• If it reaches those benchmarks, it could receive more than $120 million in local and state incentives.

Catch up quick: Boom has a goal of using supersonic jets to cut long trips in half, like getting from Washington, D.C. to Paris in four hours instead of eight.

• To do that, it will need to engineer jet engines capable of going 1,300 miles per hour over the ocean.
• The company, however, is still working out the designs. It signed a deal in December with Florida Turbine Technologies to design the engines after its previous partnership with Rolls Royce fell through.

Go Deeper: Supersonic travel could be making a comeback

• United Airlines purchases 15 supersonic jets from Boom