Officials: Boom aims to build supersonic jets in N. Carolina

A Colorado-based aviation company wants to build a plant for next-generation supersonic passenger jets at a North Carolina airport

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Colorado-based aviation company wants to build a plant for next-generation supersonic passenger jets at a North Carolina airport, government officials said Wednesday as local and state boards approved hefty financial incentives for the parent company of Boom Supersonic.

If successful, the manufacturing and testing operation at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro could generate at least 1,750 jobs in the region by 2030, according to local and state officials, while cutting flight times significantly for a post-Concorde generation of consumers.

A state incentives panel voted to provide cash incentives over 20 years to Boom Technology Inc. should the company meet plant investment and job-creation goals. The award explanation describes a $500 million investment by the end of 2030.

Jacksonville, Florida, and Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, were also in the running for the plant, according to a state Commerce Department official who briefed the committee in public. Greensboro's city council also identified Boom Technology on Wednesday morning while approving local incentives.