Boeing jumps ship, opts for cruiser

Having failed to get a single order for its planned 525-seat stretched-out 747 jet, Boeing has opted instead to develop a smaller, faster "Sonic Cruiser" which will cut two hours off transatlantic flights.

The world's biggest aerospace group has suprisingly ceded the race for the production of the first super-jumbo to its arch rival Airbus Industrie, the European aircraft-maker which is investing $12 billion (€326.5 billion) on its A380 jet capable of carrying 555 passengers.

Boeing said on Thursday it would focus instead on a supersonic plane that would seat 250 passengers and fly just under the speed of sound, saving an hour of flying for every 3,000 miles.

The decision carries risks for the Seattle-based company, which is effectively leaving the future jumbo market to its Airbus rival, which has received 66 orders for the A380. The Sonic Cruiser will be more expensive to operate as it will burn 20 per cent more fuel than the 747.

But Mr Alan Mulally, chairman and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said: "This is the airplane our customers have asked us to concentrate on. They share our view that this new airplane could change the way the world flies as dramatically as did the introduction of the jet age.

"When we combine higher speed, longer range, the comfort of flight at higher altitudes, and the environmental benefits of quieter landings and take-offs, we have an airplane that will open a new chapter in commercial aviation."

The Sonic Cruiser looks like a cross between a Concorde and a commercial jet. Drawings released by Boeing show a graceful futuristic plane with two small wings near the nose, and delta wings at the tail into which are blended a pair of powerful engines, originally developed for the larger version of the four-engine 747.

The aircraft, with planned seating of 175-250, will cruise at Mach .95 to Mach .98, just under the speed of sound, Boeing said. Sound travels at Mach 1, about 750 mph at sea level or 660 mph at 30,000 ft above sea level. It will thus avoid the drawbacks of Concorde which travelled at supersonic speed but was banned from flying across the US and other land masses due to sonic booms.

When it goes into service in five or six years, the new Boeing plane will be 15-20 per cent faster than most other commercial aircraft, and will have the potential to fly farther, with a range estimated at 10,350 miles. The Sonic Cruiser would cruise at around 41,000 ft, about 5,000 ft higher than most other commercial jets, but could climb to 45,000 ft, Boeing said.

It will reduce by almost three hours the time of the longest flight undertaken by today's jet planes, which is United Airlines Flight 821 from New York to Hong Kong, a distance of 8,439 miles. It will shave more than two hours on flight times from California to western Europe.

The decision to go ahead with the Sonic Cruiser, which has been on the drawing board for years, represents Boeing's attempt to recover the coveted edge in commercial aircraft innovation which it lost to Airbus.

The announcement of the new jet comes a week after Boeing said it would move its corporate headquarters out of Seattle, where the company was formed 85 years ago, to Denver, Dallas or Chicago. Mr Mulally would not say if the Sonic Cruiser would be built in Seattle, where the company has had conflicts with its unionised workforce.

Despite its futuristic look, the new plane does not radically advance the basic technology used in commercial aviation in the last half century. Aircraft which break the sound barrier, such as the elite Concorde, have proved too expensive for the world's airlines to buy. Fleets of high-flying supersonic aircraft could also damage the world's ozone layer.

Boeing did not say how much the Sonic Cruiser would cost but Mr Mulally said advances in computer designs and manufacturing would save money. Analysts put the cost at $10 billion.

By choosing speed over size, Boeing has advanced the argument that super jumbos have a limited market, as more passengers are flying directly to their destinations in smaller long-range jets like the 777 rather than using big hub airports.

Airbus, which is 80 per cent owned by European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) and 10 per cent by BAE Systems of the UK, maintains that the growth in passenger numbers over the next 20 years will require larger planes on major routes linking Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Flight International Magazine reported this week that Boeing planned to invite as many as 12 key airlines by the end of May to help plan the jets. A similar group of airlines was used to advise Boeing in developing its 777 jet family in the early 1990s.