At the Dubai air show, which finished up a few days before the Dubai meltdown, the developers of supersonic business jets were optimistic as to their prospects.

I’m inclined to disagree. One of the things that drove the adoption of the jet airliner, in addition to speed, was that, when you considered the reduction in crew cost per segment and the profoundly lower maintenance costs of jets versus pistons, they were cheaper to operate.

This is not the case of any form of SST, whether civil, or business/personal.

That’s why optimism by SSBJ companies like Aerion (shown) making comments like. “We are in active discussions with more than one OEM and should have an agreement concluded by the second half of next year if things don’t get any worse in the world economy,” are more an indication of delusion than of viability.

They have this real cool design, but no one willing to make it….

But the picture of the is cool.