Expert Opinion
AINsight: The Need for $peed
A market for a supersonic business jet? Perhaps, but the regulatory climate needs to change.

While I remain skeptical about the prospects for a large enough market to sustain the manufacture of a supersonic business jet (SSBJ), listening to Brian Barents extol the progress made by the Aerion team makes me wonder if I’m wrong. Aerion is a company led by smart people who not only asked whether it’s possible to build an SSBJ, but then secured the funding and hired the talent to start working on the program.

Work done by Aerion so far puts it well ahead of any potential competitors and able to reap the benefits of being first to market. Aerion has hurdles to overcome, and there are other companies that have poured money into researching SSBJs, but Aerion has kept its eyes on the target and turned the financial spigots on to a much greater degree.

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Matt Thurber
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