New Company Aims to Bring Back Supersonic Travel
In 2003, the fabled Concorde made it's last flight, and it appeared that it would be the end of supersonic travel. However, the Aerion Corporation has made the exciting announcement that a supersonic commercial aircraft could return to the skies by 2015!
Aerion has confidently scheduled testing for 2012, to be followed shortly by trans-Atlantic tests. Imagine the efficiency of flying to London from New York in roughly 3 hours (currently this trip is between 7-8 hours, flying non-stop).
This time savings will be the result of supersonic speeds of up to Mach 1.6 - and Aerion says that their plane can fly at mach 1.15 without emanating a sonic boom. Aerion chief spokesperson Jeff Miller says this is possible because of a patented technology called the supersonic natural laminar flow that “substantially reduces drag at supersonic as well as high-subsonic cruise speeds.”
Aerion will first start building supersonic business jets. Later they plan to develop the technology and raise the capital needed to expand to Concorde-sized aircraft. The aircraft, currently priced at $80 million, will seat eight to 12 passengers in stand-up comfort. Texan billionaire Robert Bass has backed the Aerion venture, and Miller claims that so far they have more than 50 letters of intent, each putting up a deposit of £150,000 ($232,762).
Aerion is a Reno, Nevada based company whose international sales partner and distributor ExecuJet is based in Zurich, Switzerland.