COMMERCIAL supersonic airliners will soon be streaking again through the skies but this time Australia could be on the flight path.

Four years after the last paying passenger caught a supersonic Concorde in 2003, an American company has announced it will bring back a mini-version of the jet to cut domestic and intercontinental travel by several hours.

The US advanced engineering group Aerion has already begun taking orders and deposits of $300,000 for up to 75 of the first jets to be developed, expected to cost about $100 million each.

Aerion Corporation is keeping tight-lipped about who have made the 20 early orders or shown interest but has hinted at a possible purchaser in Australia.

The aircraft will be restricted to 1280km/h over land, or just over the speed of sound, to avoid a sonic boom reaching the ground.

But corporation vice chairman and retired US Air Force brigadier general Brian Barents said speeds of Mach 1.6 would be allowed over the sea and sparsely inhabited areas of Australia and Canada.

Such aircraft, with its 4000 nautical mile range, would be particularly appealing to mining magnates wanting to fly from Western Australian to the eastern states.

The only confirmed buyers of the jet include Tarek bin Laden, half-brother of the most wanted man in the world Osama bin Laden, Sheik Rashid bin Humaid, a member of the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates gulf state and a Pakistani private jet charter operation.

A flight between London and New York would be cut by three hours while almost five hours could be saved flying from the English capital to Dubai.

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