Relentless Building Long-Range Supersonic Planes | Ian Brooke, Astro Mechanica
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Dec 22, 2025 
Ian Brooke, founder and CEO of Astro Mechanica, dives into the future of affordable supersonic travel. He discusses the lessons learned from Concorde's failure and the importance of targeting niche markets first. Ian shares how his childhood tinkering shaped his obsession with quality design and engineered solutions for real-world maintenance. He emphasizes the need for integration across aviation sectors, financial outlay over tech hurdles, and cultivating a culture that values persistence and innovation, all aimed at making high-performance air travel attainable for everyone.
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Gulfstream vs. Astro Mechanica Pricing Story
- Ian recounts Gulfstream SF-to-Paris charters costing about $200k one-way and contrasts it with his $10k target for a supersonic whole-jet trip.
- He frames that target as roughly 20x cheaper than current long-range private-jet options.
Design For Non-Expert Operators
- The best products anticipate repair and operation by non-experts; design choices should minimize variance in skilled labor.
- Front-load engineering effort to reduce lifecycle fragility and reliance on rare experts.
Solve The Tech Then Monetize Niche Demand
- Prioritize technical breakthroughs first, then find customers who value the new capability even at higher cost.
- Use niche customers and government or launch markets to fund development before scaling.