Aerion, Founded by Bass in 2003, Gives First "Glimpse" of Commercial Airliner Capable of Flying at Mach 4

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Aerion, the company founded by the Fort Worth financier Robert Bass to develop and market new supersonic and high Mach airplanes, on Monday released what it called the “first glimpse” of its next aircraft – the AS3TM, a Mach 4+ airliner that the company said will be capable of making the flight between Los Angeles and Tokyo in less than three hours.

The plane will be designed to fly up to 50 passengers at a range of up to 7,000 nautical miles, Aerion, which last year announced it was relocating its headquarters to Melbourne, Fla., from Reno, Nev., said.

“At Aerion, our vision is to build a future where humanity can travel between any two points on our planet within three hours,” Tom Vice, Aerion’s chairman, president and chief executive, said in a release.

“Supersonic flight is the starting point, but it is just that – the beginning. To truly revolutionize global mobility as we know it today, we must push the boundaries of what is possible. The AS3TM forms the next step in our long-term technology roadmap and will bring Aerion’s high-Mach flight capability to a broader audience; we look forward to sharing more on our design later this year.”

Earlier this year, Aerion expanded its partnership with NASA’s Langley Research Center, to accelerate the development of commercial high-speed flight, focusing on commercial flight in the Mach 3-5 range.

Concorde, the supersonic passenger jet operated by British Airways and Air France, entered service in 1976 and flew for 27 years, before being discontinued in 2003. It had a maximum speed of more than twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04.

Aerion, founded by Bass in 2002, said in early March it has more than $10 billion in backlog for its first product, the AS2 supersonic business jet, which will start production in 2023 at its Aerion Park plant in Melbourne, Fla.

Aerion on March 3 announced it reached an “expansive collaboration” with NetJets, the world’s largest private aviation company, and FlightSafety International, global leader in professional aviation training, “to shape the future of global mobility.”

NetJets, which operates shared ownership and lease programs, obtained the purchase rights for 20 AS2 jets.

Aerion has said it plans to manufacture more than 300 AS2s in its first decade of production. The AS2 is designed to fly at the maximum speed of Mach 1.4, or 1,000 miles per hour, and range of 4,200 nautical miles.