NEW YORK CITY – Supersonic air travel is only a few years from returning if a small U.S. company succeeds in developing its next-generation jet. Nevada-based Aerion expects to begin flying its AS2 supersonic jet by 2024, the company’s CEO Tom Vice said on Thursday, speaking at a UBS conference in New York City, reports Michael Sheetz for CNBC. Continue reading original article
The Intelligent Aerospace take:
January 17, 2020-Aerion says its supersonic AS2 passenger jet will make a sonic boom, but it will refract off a dense layer of the atmosphere so people on the ground don't hear it, which, if accurate, would check off one of the barriers to faster-than-sound civilian travel - the noise.
Aerion says it has a backlog of $2.5 billion in orders, and expects that to swell to $3.5 billion by the end of the year at the AS2's list price of $120 million per jet. The company wants to put the supersonic flyer into service by 2026.
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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace