Aerion Corporation is to start accepting orders for its new supersonic business jet and has put a price tag of $120 million on the AS2 aircraft.

Revealing the news on the first day the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (Ebace), the US firm said that the initial 50 launch customers will receive preferential pricing and other benefits available only for this first tranche of orders.

The new jet is expected to enter service in 2021 and will travel at speeds of up to Mach1.1 without producing a sonic-boom.

“This is another step forward for Aerion,” notes Aerion Chairman Robert M. Bass. “We are offering a select group of forward thinking business aviation users the opportunity to fly faster and to make history with us as we reintroduce commercial supersonic flight.”

Aerion also announced that Ernest (Ernie) Edwards, formerly president of Embraer Executive Jets, had joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. 

“We will be having some very interesting discussions with travellers who place a high value on their time,” he says. “They can save three hours between Paris and Washington, DC, and six-and-a-half-hours between San Francisco and Singapore. That speed advantage will be quite meaningful to them.”

The company continues to expand its engineering organisation and deepen ties with Airbus Group as the two entities participate in a joint definition phase, refining the AS2 design. Aerion moved into new and expanded offices in Reno, Nevada in March to accommodate a growing staff and provide space for Aerion and Airbus engineers to work together.

New low-­‐speed wind tunnel tests are planned for the AS2. They will take place at the University of Washington wind tunnel complex in September.

“We’ve made substantial progress in defining the AS2 from the inside and the outside, said CEO Doug Nichols. “It clearly is the shape of things to come and the next great advance in civil aviation.”

Aerion Corporation was formed in 2002 to introduce a new era of practical and efficient supersonic flight. Over more than a decade, Aerion has demonstrated advanced wing technology in conjunction with Nasa and other leading aeronautical institutions. This research includes breakthrough work in the area of supersonic natural laminar flow, the key enabling technology behind the company’s AS2 business jet. 

The 2015 edition of Ebace is being held at the Palexpo centre in Geneva, Switzerland, and runs until May 21.