Credit: Aerion
Since Concorde’s demise in 2003, industry consensus has been that business aviation and its demand for higher speed will lead a civil supersonic transport revival.
Aerion Supersonic, a pioneering company backed by U.S. billionaire Robert Bass, has been in the forefront of this resurgence for the past 18 years. Propelled by the unshakable belief that speed sells, the company’s supersonic aircraft concept has evolved through several design cycles into the arrow-wing Mach 1.4 AS2 business jet.
As the design was finalized over the past two years, so was the industrial team to bring it to reality. With aerospace heavyweights Boeing, GE Aviation and Spirit AeroSystems among the AS2 group members in 2019, the project looked to be gathering momentum. By early 2021, having attracted commitments for more than 90 aircraft valued at over $11 billion, Aerion was on the brink of full-scale development at a new facility in Melbourne, Florida. Production was expected to start in 2023, with entry into service around 2026.