Aerion, the Nevada-based company has authorized the sale of the AS2 aircraft at a price of $120 million. The company plans to have the AS2 certified in 2021 and enter service the following year. The initial 50 launch customers will receive preferential pricing and other benefits available only for this first tranche of orders. “This is another step forward for Aerion,” said Aerion Chairman Robert Bass. “We are offering a select group of forward thinking business aviation users the opportunity to fly faster and to make history with us as we reintroduce commercial supersonic flight.”
The company says that the passangers can save three hours between Paris and Washington, D.C., and six and a half hours between San Francisco and Singapore.
Designed with Supersonic Natural Laminar Flow (SNLF) wing technology that was tested in transonic wind tunnel tests and in NASA flight trials, the Aerion AS2 will now use a set of three smaller jet engines in place of its previous large two-jet design to provide quieter running, improved take-off performance, and longer range. With its three engines, the AS2 will have a maximum speed of Mach 1.5 (1,141mph), a cruising speed of Mach 1.4 and a range of 4,750 miles.