- Private aviation and fractional-ownership leader NetJets has obtained purchase rights for 20 AS2 supersonic jets from manufacturer Aerion.
- With each plane priced at $120 million, the total value of the deal is $2.4 billion and extends Aerion’s global order backlog to more than $10 billion.
- The order announcement came with the news that NetJets and Aerion are partnering with FlightSafety International to establish a new global Supersonic Training Academy for pilots of the AS2.
- The AS2 will seat 8 to 12 passengers and travel at a top speed of Mach 1.4 (1,000+ mph) and reach London from New York in 4.5 hours. (Current flight time between those cities is about 7 hours.)
- The AS2 will break the sound barrier, but with Aerion’s Boomless CruiseTM technology—which takes advantage of an atmospheric phenomenon known as Mach Cut Off to refract the sonic boom off denser, warmer layers of air—the AS2 will reach supersonic speeds over land without the potentially harmful “boom” ever reaching the ground.
- Production of the AS2 supersonic jet is scheduled to start in 2023 at the new Aerion factory in Melbourne, Florida, with first flights to take place as early as 2025.