Aerion Supersonic, a Las Vegas-based organization that planned to construct a supersonic business jet and acquired support from Boeing, suddenly declared Friday it was closing down.
Florida Today detailed that the organization, which had promoted plans to assemble a $375 million jet-building facility at Orlando Melbourne International Airport, said in an articulation Friday that “in the current financial environment, it has proven hugely challenging to close on the scheduled and necessary large new capital requirements to finalize the transition of the AS2 into production.”
The organization was developing a 12-traveler fly, the AS2, fit for arriving at velocities of Mach 1.4 or roughly 1,000 miles each hour. It was scheduled for first flight in 2023.
In February 2019, Boeing put an undisclosed amount in Aerion. Mike Sinnett, Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ vice president for product strategy and future airplane development, joined the organization’s board and stays a director, Boeing said Friday.
“While we are disappointed Aerion could not secure additional funding to continue their work, we remain committed to working with innovative and creative partners who, like Aerion, continue to push limits on groundbreaking technology,” Boeing said in a statement Friday.
Aerion authorities were not accessible for comment.
“The AS2 supersonic business jet program meets all market, technical, regulatory and sustainability requirements, and the market for a new supersonic segment of general aviation has been validated with $11.2 billion in sales backlog for the AS2,” the company’s statement said. “Given these conditions, the Aerion Corporation is now taking the appropriate steps in consideration of this ongoing financial environment.”