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Sonic Cruiser's fate is still up in the air

By David Bowermaster
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

LONDON — The man in charge of Boeing's Sonic Cruiser program met the media at the Farnborough Air Show yesterday and did his best to stem a rising tide of questions about the high-speed jetliner's fate.

Walt Gillette, chief airplane designer, said he believes the Sonic Cruiser remains the best aircraft to meet the long-term needs of airlines and their passengers, but he said it is ultimately up to customers to decide.

He also said if the Sonic Cruiser does not go forward, the technology already developed will produce dividends for Boeing on alternative future airplanes and existing products.

"On one side, Boeing's real interest is in the Sonic Cruiser because we would like to change the way people fly," Gillette said. "But my team's assignment also includes using all this technology for a conventional aircraft."

For Gillette's engineers, the Sonic Cruiser is not a configuration but a mission statement: To come up with an airplane capable of carrying people a long way at Mach 1.

In the past year, Gillette's team has looked at 60 different fuselage configurations, 25 different wings and 30 different nacelles, and he expects the changes to continue as Boeing keeps experimenting with technologies and production processes.

Gillette is cooperating with a team led by Nicole Piasecki, vice president of marketing and strategy, that is examining the "value of speed."

He is convinced Boeing can build a plane with near-Mach 1 speed that will have the same fuel burn as today's 250-passenger 767, so he said passengers will not necessarily have to pay extra to fly on the Sonic Cruiser.

"This does not require a premium passenger like a Concorde to close its business case," Gillette said.

Some of the most revolutionary work being done on the Sonic Cruiser involves the production processes, which Gillette said will be highlighted by bringing very large pieces of composite materials together very quickly.

While it still takes a few weeks to assemble a 737 on Boeing's much-improved moving assembly line, Gillette said the Sonic Cruiser could be fully assembled "in a small number of days."

Like other Boeing executives, Gillette said he is not in a rush to make a production decision on the Sonic Cruiser. Because the company expects its next new plane to remain in production for several decades, the bottom line is getting the proper solution.

"Boeing has done 10 all-new commercial airplanes in their history. We have never gotten it wrong," Gillette said. "I do not intend to get it wrong on the last airplane I get to do."

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