Aerion says the cabin will accommodate eight to 12 passengers "in their own personalized comfort zones," where they can adjust the heating and cooling of their own seats under "soothing colors" supplied by LCD lighting. The cabin measures just more than 6 feet high, 6.5 feet across and 30 feet long, with room for a full galley and comfortable lavatory, the company says.
Maximum cruising speed is listed as Mach 1.6 for the sleek 148-foot-long plane with the stubby wings (64-foot wingspan), which would be powered by twin Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines. No dates have been specified for when the ambitious plane might actually (ever?) be cleared for takeoff, though the company claims that Federal Aviation Administration officials who have been briefed were "pleasantly surprised" by the Aerion jet's conformance with existing flight rules. According to a story in The New York Times, the minimum price for the plane is about $80 million.
Photo by Aerion
