Japan Airlines said Tuesday it had invested $10 million in US airline company Boom Supersonic to help revive supersonic flights that could cut journey times in half.

The Japanese airline company will also have the option to buy up to 20 Boom aircraft through a pre-order arrangement.

The new-generation supersonic aircraft, scheduled to be launched in mid-2020s or later, has a maximum flying range of 8,334 kilometres (5,167 miles) at a speed of Mach 2.2 or 2,335 kilometres per hour.

If it takes off, it would be the first supersonic passenger aircraft since Concorde took its final flight in 2003.