Veteran business aviation leader Ernie Edwards joined Aerion Corp. as senior vice president and chief commercial officer, the Reno, Nev.-based company announced yesterday. In his new position, Edwards is responsible for all sales activity related to its Mach 1.5 AS2 supersonic business jet. He reports directly to CEO Doug Nichols.

In late 2013, Edwards retired as president of Embraer Executive Jets, which he helped shape into a leading business aviation brand. Most recently, he served as non-executive chairman of Veling Tayara, a Dubai-based business jet leasing firm. Edwards also held senior management positions with Cessna and Gulfstream and is the former president of Swift Aviation Group, which introduced Embraer to the business aircraft market in 2002 by offering the Legacy 600, a variant of the EMB-135 regional jet.

Edwards told AIN that he started talking to Nichols and Aerion co-chairman Brian Barents about the position about a month ago, adding that it “came to a head” when he met chairman Robert Bass, the billionaire financing the company, two weeks ago. “This is an opportunity to get into something that will change the face of the industry’s future—to help the AS2 be the first-to-market supersonic business jet," he said. "Aerion will simply revolutionize the way the world travels.”

First flight of the three-engine AS2 is slated for the 2019 time frame, with entry into service expected in 2022.