One of the premier aviation companies, Aerion Corporation has now announced its plans to give a rebirth to the supersonic business aviation industry, as the company begins its $80 million Supersonic Business Jet (SBJ) program. In the year 1976, the world of commercial aviation witnesses a breakthrough with the induction of the world’s first commercial supersonic airliner, the Concorde. However, after much covered Concorde disaster of the year 2000, supersonic air travel faded away in time, until now.
The all new Supersonic Business Jet from Aerion is capable of achieving speeds of Mach 1.5 (1,840 km/h), with a maximum range of 4,000 miles. The entire project is targeted at the billionaires and ultra rich customers, for whom time literally is equal to money and who would like to cover long distances in the shortest amount of time possible. With the SBJ, a traveler could in fact fly from Paris to New York in just four hours and fourteen minutes and the plane is said to be capable of taking passenger from the U.S East Coast to Asia in just nine and a half hours. However, the SBJ might face some hurdles in the United States, when it comes to air speed, where the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) denies commercial supersonic travel and have placed stringent sonic boom restrictions.
The initial plans for the Supersonic Business Jet called for 12 seating accommodation, but as per the latest information from Aerion, the company might be planning to increase that capacity to 50 passengers. The trend of supersonic commercial travel isn’t just confined to Aerion, as other big hitters in the aviation industry are also currently working on their own supersonic plane programs, including Cessna, Sukhoi, Tupolev, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Supersonic Aerospace International.
Via Gulf News
