Texas Billionaire’s Supersonic-Jet Dream Dies as Aerion Folds
- Aerion says raising necessary funds was ‘hugely challenging’
- Backing from crisis-battered Boeing can’t save Bass’s company
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Aerion Corp., the supersonic-jet developer founded by Texas billionaire Robert Bass and backed by Boeing Co., said it’s ceasing operations after failing to secure enough money to start building the aircraft.
Raising the large investment needed to move the AS2 private jet from design to production has been “hugely challenging,” Aerion said in an emailed statement Friday. The company had said in March that output of the first planes would start in 2023 at a factory in Melbourne, Florida, with the first commercial delivery expected in 2027.