Supersonic Bizjets: A Sound Investment?

Advocates of business aviation have long valued its unique ability to save time, expediting travel and facilitating quicker connections. But as aircraft have become incrementally faster, no supersonic business jet (SSBJ) concept has yet made it to market, despite attention from established OEMs and various start-ups over the last four decades. Although breaking the sound barrier may be technically feasible, a limited commercial market for such aircraft—hindered by existing regulatory restrictions—has resulted in an as-yet-unbroken barrier.

To date, only two commercial aircraft have operated faster than the speed of sound: the British Aircraft Corporation Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144 (the latter operated only on a single Moscow-to-Kazakhstan route). Concorde’s commercial service was curtailed in 2003, marking the end of civilian supersonic travel.

Yet as Colorado-based Boom Supersonic pushes forward to bring its clean-sheet Overture airliner to market, elusive dreams of publicly accessible supersonic flight seem to be enjoying renewed focus. Could contemporary technological advancements to abate noise and emissions concerns, combined with evolving regulatory attention, finally align to allow the inaugural SSBJ—such as Spike Aerospace’s protracted S-512 Diplomat project—to speed into service?

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Unsurprisingly, early ambitions for civilian supersonic flight drew heavily on the military innovation that had already proved the technical and aerodynamic feasibility of breaking the sound barrier. Chuck Yeager became the first recognized individual to achieve this in October 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1. The first fighter jet capable of breaking the sound barrier (exceeding Mach 1) in level flight, the North American F-100 Super Sabre, entered service in 1954.

The first supersonic business jet concept was proposed around 1990 by Gulfstream Aerospace and Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau, drawing on the latter’s defense expertise. A promotional booklet for the eight-to-12-passenger S-21 aircraft promised “all the high technology control and convenience with the advanced systems capability of a Gulfstream IV,” elevating the Gulfstream’s maximum speed of Mach 0.85 to a cruise speed of Mach 2+.

Significant aerodynamic redesigns included the addition of canards and variable geometry wings, complexities perhaps helping to prompt what the project partners termed a “conservative” development cycle of at least 20 years. After Gulfstream withdrew, Sukhoi continued until around 2012, although it was unsuccessful in securing sufficient additional funding. A similar short-lived venture came from Dassault Aviation between 1997 and 1999, with a similarly canard-configured concept promising a cruise speed of Mach 1.8 and seating for eight passengers. However, Dassault deemed that no civilian engines were suitable to power the project.

Shelved Ambitions

Nevada-based startup Aerion, founded in 2003, took the pragmatic approach of partnering with major established aerospace companies in an attempt to bring its proposed 10-passenger AS2 aircraft to market. The $120 million super-cruising trijet was designed to offer speeds of up to Mach 1.5 over an ultra-long range of 5,000 nm. A 2014 collaboration with Airbus was superseded by defense prime Lockheed Martin in 2017, before again being replaced by Boeing in 2019. However, although orders from fractional operators Flexjet and NetJets—placed in 2015 and 2021, respectively—indicated confidence, the company abruptly shut up shop in May 2021 after funding sources ran dry. Incidentally, Boeing ended up as the winning bidder for Aerion assets, ostensibly its patents and other intellectual property.

The 2019 Californian startup Exosonic followed suit in November 2024, explaining the hurdle to be primarily financial. “Although the founders and team still believe in the need/desire for quiet supersonic flight, without further customer support for either concept, the company cannot sustain the cash needed to make further announcements,” wrote Exosonic in a statement.

Current Contenders

One notable contender continues in the quest to finally bring an SSBJ to market, with Atlanta-based Spike Aerospace remaining steadfast in its conviction that “the technology, the market, and the regulatory climate are lining up.” The company’s original plans for its 6,200-nm, 18-passenger S-512 called for a first flight in 2021, with deliveries scheduled from 2023. To date, no full-scale prototype has been built or flown. In May 2025, Spike Aerospace CEO, founder, and president Vik Kachoria announced that the company had seemingly “returned,” having “sharpened the [aircraft] concept, expanded [its] leadership, and refocused [its] strategy.”

In August, Spike Aerospace announced it was refining the aerodynamics, cabin configuration, and lower-boom performance of its Mach 1.6 S-512 Diplomat. The company is completing what it calls an “enhanced study” that builds on previous research and design iterations to validate the aircraft’s ability to meet stringent noise requirements over land with low-boom capability.

“For the moment, most of the work is in computational fluid design [CFD] analysis and evaluation,” a company spokeswoman told AIN at the time. “In the near future, we may conduct wind-tunnel studies for several critical areas of flight that are more difficult/less reliable to do in CFD.”

She added that the CFD work involves engineers conducting several trade studies where they adjust one parameter, such as the powerplants or speed, that might require a slight redesign of the aircraft. “Then they study the impact on the other parameters,” she said.

The Atlanta-based firm is further working with aerospace companies, as well as key industry partners and academic institutions, to accelerate design, plot out certification, and prepare for market readiness, it said. Spike Aerospace plans to develop a supersonic jet that can link London and Dubai in about 3.2 hours. Initial designs would have up to an 18-passenger cabin that, in lieu of windows, would sport full-length panoramic high-definition displays like those planned for the windowless Otto Aerospace Phantom 3500 light jet.

First flight of the S-512 is scheduled for late 2027, with service entry estimated in 2031. Range previously had been reported as 6,200 nm, but the spokeswoman said it is now 4,800 nm.

However, the company acknowledged on its website that bringing an aircraft to market “can cost upwards of $2 to 3 billion and take seven to 10 years,” something it claims to be mitigating with “a phased development plan, government-backed grants, and dual-use commercial/military applications” to de-risk the process.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is also evaluating its own conceptual aircraft concept to assess the feasibility of participation in producing a supersonic passenger jet. This is in addition to its Re-Boot (Robust En-route sonic-Boom mitigation Technology demonstration) project, conceived with two objectives: the “flight demonstration of robust low-boom design technology” and the “conceptual design of robust low-boom supersonic passenger aircraft.”

Evolving Regulatory Landscape

The feasibility of creating a so-called "quiet sonic boom" is inherently important to future commercial supersonic operations. Since 1974, FAA regulation 14 CFR 91.187 has prohibited all civil supersonic flight over land, a restriction adopted in many international locations and widely acknowledged as contributing to Concorde’s limited commercial viability. However, in early 2025, Boom Supersonic’s experimental proof-of-concept XB-1 test aircraft demonstrated what the company dubbed “boomless cruise”—breaking the sound barrier six times with no audible noise reaching the ground.

“Boomless cruise does not require extensive aircraft shaping,” explained the company, adding: “Instead, it relies on the ability to break the sound barrier at a high enough altitude where the boom refracts harmlessly away from the ground.” Although any supersonic aircraft can theoretically achieve this “sweet spot,” Boom believes that modern engine efficiencies—and an aircraft’s ability to fly in specific “boomless” “Mach cutoff” conditions without the use of noisy and fuel-hungry afterburners—now make its range realistic. “Additionally, in Concorde’s era, the computing power to calculate appropriate speeds and altitudes was not available,” concluded Boom.

NASA’s X-59 Quesst (quiet supersonic technology) demonstrator is also designed to help “solve one of the most persistent challenges of supersonic flight,” according to developer Lockheed Martin. Although not intended for commercial development, the X-59 made its inaugural flight in October 2025 and “will be used to collect community response data on the acceptability of a quiet sonic boom generated by the unique design of the aircraft.” This breakthrough, Lockheed stated, “would open the door to an entirely new global market for aircraft manufacturers.”

In June 2025, the White House also issued an executive order promising to reassess what it termed “outdated and overly restrictive regulations [that] have grounded the promise of supersonic flight over land.” The proposal of an “interim noise-based certification standard” will look to “define acceptable noise thresholds…based on operational testing and research, development, testing, and evaluation data.” Speaking to AIN, a FAA representative added that “aircraft companies seeking to test civil supersonic aircraft [still] require a special flight authorization” to do so.

Is the Market Ready?

“Lifting the ban will drive innovation in supersonic travel, not only for commercial but also for business jets focused primarily on overland routes,” a Boom Supersonic spokesperson told AIN. Although Boom remains primarily focused on its 60- to 80-passenger Overture airliner, “just as we expect fares to come down over time as demand grows, future iterations of Overture will evolve to meet the needs of the market,” the company maintained. In fact, Boom was an exhibitor at the most recent NBAA BACE show, suggesting an interest in the business aviation realm.

Acknowledging an “overlapping demand with passengers whose time is valuable, and who want supersonic for both coast-to-coast and business travel,” Boom added that its “total addressable market of over 1,000 Overture aircraft” could potentially be conservative, citing “increases in speed [that] lead to increases in travel.”

The Subsonic Race

One of the few purpose-built business jets to exceed the sound barrier is the Bombardier Global 8000. This occurred in May 2021 during a flight test, but was not meant as a precursor to supersonic travel. Bombardier has consistently maintained that the testing was necessary to achieve certification at the high subsonic speeds it was targeting. Other speedier business jets believed to have either eclipsed or skirted near the Mach 1 demarcation during experimental and/or certification flight tests include the Textron Aviation Cessna Citation X and Gulfstream G650.

A Bombardier spokesperson acknowledged that “while the idea of supersonic travel is exciting, the Global 8000 is already positioned in the optimal sweet spot for business aviation.” With a top speed of Mach 0.95, the world’s fastest business jet already represents “the perfect time machine, transporting customers faster and farther than any business aircraft in history,” the spokesperson explained to AIN.

Additionally, there are those in the industry who suggest the time-saving benefits of supersonic flight are, arguably, not a primary focus of aircraft evolution. “While speed is important, the unique design of the Global 8000 ensures that the aircraft is also incredibly nimble,” stressed Bombardier, pointing to the wide range of airports the aircraft can access. Advancements in ride comfort and connectivity solutions combine to provide what the OEM already describes as “a luxurious time machine that brings the world closer.”

Gulfstream appears reticent to pursue a capability it has considered and seemingly shelved more than once over the decades. Some 20 years after its initial supersonic conversations with Sukhoi, the U.S. OEM achieved successful airborne testing of its patented “Quiet Spike sonic boom mitigator” device in 2006. This “multi-segmented, articulating boom” was mounted on the nose of a NASA F-15 and featured on Gulfstream’s design for an experimental swept-wing X-54 demonstrator, first proposed in 2008. Initial reports had indicated an earliest first flight of 2020, with larger commercial versions to follow in the 2030s, although Gulfstream is not evidently actively pursuing the concept.

As with the development of any clean-sheet aircraft, any supersonic business jet venture must carefully balance market demand with considerations of technical feasibility, commercial viability, and regulatory compliance. Ultimately, though it is technically feasible to get a business jet through the sound barrier—a milestone Bombardier achieved with its Global 8000 flight test vehicle during a 2021 test campaign—the higher fuel burn and associated weight considerations make the feat of limited practical use. Even if the overflight permissions over land evolve favorably, more stringent noise and emissions regulations, alongside elevated environmental scrutiny, are likely to add more pressure on certification and potential operation.

Speaking to AIN on condition of anonymity, a Global pilot working for a fractional operator suggested that supersonic capabilities represent no substantial time-saving value until speeds of at least Mach 2 could be achieved. This perspective is potentially arbitrary, but nevertheless, would operators be prepared to support the almost incalculable development costs for modest reductions in journey time?

“Time is money, but saving incrementally more of it is exponentially more costly. OEMs have more meaningful investments and upgrades to focus on,” he concluded. And despite British band Oasis having penned the line “I’m feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic,” it seems the luxury service so synonymous with private aviation is going to stay—for the moment, at least—firmly on the other side of the sound barrier.