Can an airplane travel faster than speed of sound? Once just a thought, it is coming close to reality. This is the supersonic aircraft Concorde wants to replace. Aerion and Airbus aspire to deliver in eight years a passenger jet capable of exceeding the speed of sound. In its development Spanish defense division of Airbus is also involved.
Yes you are reading it right, the private jet will travel faster than sound and the reality of it has started to take shape on paper after seven years of research. Aerion has already defined the plan to fly the first prototype of the supersonic aircraft in 2021, which will cover the gap left by the Concorde in 2013. In todays aerospace industry everyone wants to be next. But while the Concorde was operated by Air France and British Airways, the new supersonic model will only be available to very few deep pockets billionaires and will be sold as a private jet.
Behind the ambitious idea of Aerion is the Texas businessman and philanthropist Robert Bass. His fortune, valued at 2,700 million dollars, which places him among the richest 200 US people, partly due to investments made with his conglomerate in the oil industry. Aerion is his latest venture, which began in 2004 and is headquartered in Reno (Nevada). Not far from Las Vegas, he announced Monday that the project is still alive and within hours signed the first order that will bring liquidity to empreder flight.
Tags: airplane, faster, sound, speed, travel