Supersonic Aircraft: Aerion Park Calls the Florida Space Coast "Home" for Game-Changing AS2

Melbourne, FL – December 10, 2020 – Supersonic aircraft company, Aerion, the leader in supersonic technology, has started development at Aerion Park – the company’s future state-of-the-art global headquarters that will house production of the AS2 business jet from 2023.

Aerion Park – which will represent a capital investment of more than $300m in construction, machinery and equipment - will bring at least 675 new jobs in Florida by 2026 as the company ramps-up operations ahead of production of the AS2 private jet commencing in 2023. The company will be recruiting aircraft builders, designers, engineers, programmers and scientists while also expecting to enhance future employment in the wider mobility ecosystem.

“This is a truly exciting day for Aerion as we launch our new home and the future of sustainable supersonic flight here in Melbourne, Florida,” says Tom Vice, Aerion’s Chairman, President & CEO. “We are building the future of mobility – a future where humanity can travel between any two points on our planet in three hours or less. We will change the world and bring a new sustainable means of supersonic and hypersonic flight to reality, and it will happen here, at Aerion Park.”

Aerion Park will be located on more than 110 acres of the Orlando Melbourne International Airport (MLB) campus and among a growing cluster of aerospace and technology companies on Florida’s Space Coast. The Park will incorporate the company’s new global headquarters plus an integrated campus for research, design, production and interior completions of the company’s AS2 supersonic aircraft and future hypersonic aircraft.

Flanking the main site will be a new Aerion Customer Experience Center, from which customers will be able to directly access Orlando Melbourne International Airport’s runway. The new experience center will include a customer completions center and a full-size AS2 cabin mock-up, affording customers the opportunity to customize their chosen interior specifications in configuration, materials, colors and finishes.

“We are grateful and proud to be the home of Aerion’s new global headquarters where the AS2 business jet will come to life,” said Greg Donovan, A.A.E. executive director at Orlando Melbourne International Airport (MLB). “With more than $100m reinvested into our airfield over the last few years, our new runways and air traffic control tower are ready to support this revolution in supersonic flight. Aerion is a special part of our Space Coast community’s future, and we are eager to see the path forward as we welcome the fine talent that will be joining our thriving aerospace campus at MLB.”

Just as the AS2 seeks to deliver carbon neutral flight, the home in which it will be created aims to be the most environmentally sustainable of its kind in the aerospace sector. Aerion Park is planned to be powered by clean energy – using the very latest in photovoltaic solar technology to generate energy for manufacturing. On-site electric vehicle charging stations will also be installed, and rainwater that lands on the campus reused. Recycled materials will be used in the construction of Aerion Park wherever possible, sourced locally to minimize emissions, and the Park will be dedicated to creating zero waste.

The campus will incorporate buildings spanning some two million sq. ft, including a vast aircraft assembly facility, the equivalent size of fourteen football fields, plus a systems integration laboratory that will house the AS2 “Iron Bird”. Also included on the site will be engineering flight test headquarters. The facility will enable flight crews, mechanics and support personnel to fly AS2 aircraft in the certification flight test program and conduct serial production testing before customer delivery. Aerion intends to flight test the AS2 from the site, in the surrounding airspace, in supersonic testing corridors and at additional offsite locations.

“Aerion is an exciting place, fueled by entrepreneurs, creators and innovators,” adds Tom Vice. “We are building more than the airplane of tomorrow – we are building the global transportation networks of the future, and we will seek the smartest, most creative and collaborative minds to join our team and our journey to tackle the toughest mobility challenges of the future.”

Aerion has already opened a temporary office location on the Orlando Melbourne International Airport campus to house a growing Florida-based employment base, while major construction work at Aerion Park will begin in 2021 ahead of the first AS2 aircraft flight test vehicle commencing production in 2023. Aerion plans to deliver 300 aircraft over ten years of production, supported by a growing domestic and international order backlog, which now tops $6.5 billion+.

The AS2 supersonic private jet is the starting point in Aerion’s pursuit of faster and sustainable point-to-point travel. Designed to be inherently environmentally responsible from the first flight, the AS2 is the first supersonic jet designed to be powered by 100 percent synthetic fuel and reach supersonic speeds without the need for an afterburner.