Netjets Purchase Rights for 20 Aerion AS2s
 

I hope this comes to fruition - many hurdles need to be jumped to make this happen. Sounds like a great airplane to offer as a fraction.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-r...SOLUTIONS.html

I believe Flexjet also has purchase orders for the AS2. Again, would love to see it happen.... Fingers crossed!!!

My guess is the Flex Aerion deal was all PR hype and Flex never had the money in the first place to make the deal happen. Flex loves the headlines and can make a PR flash headline from any good news. Remember the big G650 and G400 order? How many do they really have on property years later? How many unencumbered aircraft do they have now?

I take a lot of pride that NetJets has never taken a dime of PPP or CARES money. Meanwhile Flexjet and a combo of its companies (DAC, Nextant, etc) took over $80 million and still laid off employees that the money was supposed to protect.


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Makes you wonder how much money you have to put down for a “purchase right” vs an order or an option. This arrangement with Aerion, Netjets and FSI sounds more structured and thought out.

Clearly there are many hurdles for this AS2 to jump for it to be certified (I’ve heard from a lot of skeptics). Still would love to see it happen. I imagine we have a lot of the technologies these days to make it happen - certainly better technology than in the Concorde days. And at it’s price point, offering it as a fraction makes a lot of sense.

I agree. I think the Aerion launch at NetJets is a much better and more financially stable plan, especially with FlightSafety in the mix. I hope it happens. It would have a perfect niche at NetJets.


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This airplane was one of several pie-in-the-sky concepts which popped up about a decade ago, but it's starting to look more and more realistic. May even pave the way for some fast airliners, but they'll probably need to run on SAF to have a hope of dodging blowback from the gretas.

Good luck flying it supersonic over the US…

Ever since the Aerion project was first conceived in Reno by Dr. Tracy more than 20 years ago, the idea was always to build an aircraft that could be efficient in the transonic range over land and then transition to supersonic over water where the boom regulations didn't apply. The max cruise number was pegged at around 1.4 to MAYBE 1.5 because any higher than that would require exotic materials (think $$$$$) because of friction heating of the skin. The early plan was also to use off-the-shelf engine and system technology as much as possible to keep costs down. The problematic part of that has always been the engine and slowing down intake air sufficiently during mach cruise and yet maintain enough efficiency to fly 4500-5000 miles.

The project has obviously morphed quite a bit, especially since a billionaire aviation enthusiast embraced the oldest joke in flying: How do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start with a large one..." Nevertheless, they have stuck with the idea of not needing a regulatory change to bring the airplane to market, an approach I have always thought was smarter than the other supersonic business jet projects floating around out there that believe they can convince the government to approve their "boomless" technology in the face of disapproving environmental activists.

Ultimately, the project stands a much better chance of getting to market with Netjets on board. I figure they're about even money right now.

I hope it comes to fruition. As a plane geek, this has always been a cool concept. I really don’t see a domestic market for it though if the idea is to fly it subsonic. The acquisition cost is going to be much higher I would assume, than a similar class cabin. Hell, modern Gulfstreams fly above .95. Now if the AS2 can really sustain 1.4 that will be impressive. If it can only do 1.1, 1.2 I’m not sure it will be as mind blowing to consumers as they think it will, after the novelty wears off.

Oh, regulation change is coming.


https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=22754

This seems to be a great future tool for Europe out and backs, transcons, Hawaii. 4,200NM seems a little short for Asia BUT... with a fuel stop all things might be possible.

1.5M makes the world go by.

Aerion is advertising that a speed of M1.0-1.2 will prevent the sonic boom from reaching the ground. Will that come to fruition, anyone's guess. M1.2 vs M.8 will save appreciable time on a transcon but will have no impact when slowed on departure and arrival procedures. M1.4 over water will be a big time savings.