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It's a fairly small aircraft, with a length of just 21 meters (68.8 feet). But after a tough year for the airline industry, it symbolizes a big step forward in aviation history as the first privately built supersonic aircraft. Every other supersonic aircraft up to this point — the European Concorde flown until 2003 and the Soviet Tu-144 flown until 1999, as well as many fast military aircraft — was funded by billions from state coffers and built with government mandates. Startup Boom Supersonic from Denver in the US is different. It unveiled the first privately manufactured supersonic jet last...

Supersonic passenger travel, which died out with the Concorde's demise in 2003, will make a comeback by the mid-2020s if three entrepreneurial U.S.-based companies can make jets quiet and efficient enough to win over buyers and fliers. Fifteen years ago, Boeing Co canceled plans to build the near-supersonic Sonic Cruiser, the last big attempt by a major manufacturer to speed up commercial travel. Now Japan Airlines Co Ltd <9201.T> and Virgin Group are backing one of the three U.S. supersonic projects, Denver-based Boom Technology Inc, which plans a 55-seat all business class jet. Lockheed Martin Corp is partnering with Aerion...

The world's first private supersonic jet could take off in as little as six years. The AS2 plane will be capable of supersonic travel, allowing passengers to travel between London and New York in just three hours, and Los Angeles to Tokyo in six. Airbus and Aerion say they hope to choose a US manufacturing site for the jet during the first half of next year. If all goes to plan, test flights will take place in 2021, with the first commercial flights for businesses beginning in 2023. The Aerion AS2 business jet will fly at a top speed of...

Speaking at the Wichita Aero Club on Monday evening, Aerion Corp. chairman Brian Barents said that “we are on the verge of a new supersonic age” in air travel. Aerion, in partnership with Airbus, is developing the Mach 1.5+ AS2 supersonic business jet (SSBJ), which is now expected to be certified in 2023. Final assembly is likely to be conducted in the U.S., he revealed. The company’s market studies suggest a demand for 600 SSBJs over 20 years, even at the three-engine AS2’s $120 million price point and with a restriction that the aircraft be operated at subsonic speeds over...

Aerion has enlarged the cabin of its supersonic business jet as it continues to fine tune the design in a bid to reassure potential manufacturing partners that the aircraft will achieve its weight and performance targets. Reno, Nevada-based Aerion says it is refining the design and business case in an effort to present manufacturers with "a profitable programme that can move swiftly into full-scale engineering and prototype development". An investor group headed by billionaire Robert Bass is funding initial design and planning while Aerion looks for industrial and financial partners to bear the $2 billion cost of development, which is...