Aerion executive: Wichita likely to have a role in supersonic jet

Aerion will not share the same fate as the Concorde, a top executive for the developer of a supersonic business jet told a Wichita audience Monday.

Brian Barents, co-chairman of Aerion, said his Reno, Nev.-based company thinks it has the formula for successful supersonic civil flight: an aircraft that will be efficient and economical in both supersonic and subsonic flight.

“The design (of the Aerion AS2) achieves a new level of supersonic and subsonic capability,” Barents said as the keynote speaker at the Wichita Aero Club’s September luncheon.

Barents said he anticipates Wichita will have a role in the AS2. Some of that will come through Aerion’s collaboration with Airbus Group, which was formally announced last fall.

“We would not be surprised to see the collaboration extended to Wichita,” he said, adding that John O’Leary, head of Airbus’ Wichita engineering center, and some of his employees were at Aerion’s headquarters this week.

Barents spent a good part of his aviation career in Wichita, including 11 years at Cessna, where he rose to senior vice president of sales and marketing, and Learjet, where he was president and CEO from 1989 to 1996. Barents also continues to maintain a home in the area.

He told the Aero Club that Aerion thinks there is a market for 600 of Aerion’s AS2s over 20 years. The AS2 is a $120 million, nine- to 12-seat supersonic business jet.

“With the need for speed … I fully believe we won’t have any problem selling the airplane for $120 million,” Barents said.

He said the company’s technology in the AS2 could be used to develop other aircraft, including a “small airliner.” The Concorde, a supersonic commercial airliner, ceased operations in 2003.

But Aerion has a couple of challenges to overcome before it brings the airplane to market, he said. One is selecting engines to power the aircraft. He said a decision on engine selection should come a year from now.

At that time, he said, the company will decide whether the AS2 will have two or three engines. The concept currently calls for three.

The bigger challenge, Barents said, is regulation. New federal and international regulations over aircraft noise standards are set to take effect before the AS2’s planned entry into service.

The new standards could hamper Aerion’s launch of the AS2, although Barents said he thinks the regulatory hurdles can be cleared, partly through “advancing our discussions with NASA, the FAA and international bodies on the appropriate community noise standard for supersonic aircraft.”

As for a final assembly site, Aerion will likely look for a location that offers nearby access to a seaport. That’s because he thinks Airbus would be involved in the manufacturing of some major components of the AS2, and those components will likely come from Airbus facilities overseas.

“Having said that, I’m quite sure there’s going to be a lot of parts from Wichita manufacturers in the airplane, whether we’re here or not,” Barents said.

This story was originally published September 21, 2015 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Aerion executive: Wichita likely to have a role in supersonic jet."