In late January 2001, Boeing quietly filed a patent for “an integrated and/or modular high-speed aircraft and method of design.”N This project, which had been code-named Glacier, was but one of three designs that the top-secret engineering sprint had been looking at.
A small black-and-white line drawing
of the supersonic aircraft caught the attention of a Wall Street Journal
reporter, and the paper published a story about the patent. Boeing had not even
had time to start briefing customers on the plane, but its radical design set
off a buzz.
Alan Mullaly, Boeing’s chief of commercial airplanes, carried a 3-foot model of the plane in a stylish, rolling silver suitcase, unveiling it dramatically in corporate conference rooms. Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune would later say the new plane was the most exciting thing he had seen from Boeing in 50 years, predicting it would be “the best home run Boeing has ever hit.”N
On March 29, 2001, the same day Boeing acknowledged it was canceling the 747x, the company formally unveiled an artist’s rendering of the Sonic Cruiser. Its sexy, Star Trek-like design created a stir, and was about as different from the lumbering double-deck A380 as could be.N
The Sonic Cruiser made a forceful statement about Boeing's product philosophy, incorporating takeaways from its failed 747x road show: Smaller planes flying point to point (from one city to another) would be more valuable than giant aircraft hauling passengers between crowded hubs and then forcing customers onto connecting flights on smaller planes.
Boeing promised the glamorous Sonic Cruiser would “change the way the world flies.” Travel time from San Francisco to Tokyo, for instance, would be cut by a third. Boeing claimed customers would be willing to pay a premium for speed.
Lightweight carbon fiber would be key to the Sonic Cruiser. The company had actually been working on the idea for years. As far back as 1995, a group of researchers known in materials, design, engineering, and manufacturing had started exploring new concepts for aircraft. In 1999, about a dozen engineers started working on a new plane concept under the code name 20XX. By late 2000, the Glacier project team had come up with a design that bore a strong resemblance to the Sonic Cruiser. But the company hadn’t discussed it publicly.N
That changed as the company tried to shop the 747x project in early 2001 and began mentioning the Cruiser. Mike Bair, who served as vice president of business strategy and development for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said Boeing had asked all the top airline executives what plane they would like to see Boeing develop — the 747X or the Sonic Cruiser — and the Cruiser won out. “We essentially let them pick,” he said.N
Although the Cruiser would use more fuel, Bair said airlines weren’t that concerned about it. “It's only a little bit of a fuel penalty,” he said.N
Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic and other airlines showed interest.
Some others, though, like Emirates, weren’t sure if they needed the extra speed (and costs). They expressed concerns about issues like fuel consumption, environmental impact, and disruption to airline schedules and airport operations. Airbus, for its part, said the Sonic Cruiser would burn 40 percent more fuel than current jetliners and would not be economical.N
But Walt Gillette, vice president and general manager for the Sonic Cruiser project, emphasized to airlines that the speed increases could significantly boost utilization rates by at least 20 percent per year. As an example, he said the Sonic Cruiser could shave five hours off a round trip between London and Singapore. That would allow the airline to fly 25 percent more people per year.N
The sales effort, Gillette would recall later in a book on the project, involved listening to customers, but also trying to explain the merits of a plane many clients had never even contemplated. He said:
There’s no point in Boeing creating the aircraft we think they needed. That’s why we’ve started the journey by asking the airlines what they want. But this time it’s a different paradigm. You now have a new Thoroughbred in your stable, and you have to rethink your race team. Airlines now need to think about three speed regimes: the 767, the 777, and the Sonic Cruiser. N
Then came the terrorist attacks of September 2001. Air travel plummeted, and airlines mothballed almost a thousand planes. Airlines lost $13 billion in 2001, and would lose another $11.3 billion in 2002.N
Nevertheless, Boeing pushed ahead with the Sonic Cruiser. The company laid out a 5-year plan, with launch in 2002, major assembly beginning in 2005, roll-out of the jet in fall 2006, and first flight in December 2006. First deliveries were set for 2008.N
Gillette wanted airlines to work with Boeing on fleshing out the details, but in wake of 9/11, airlines were “bunkered down in survival mode” and could not spare people to help Boeing with its studies.N
As the impact of 9/11 continued, Boeing conceded that 30,000 of its workers might lose their jobs due to canceled or delayed orders.N Yet the company moved forward with wind tunnel tests on the Sonic Cruiser, and revealed details about the carbon fiber composites and titanium that would be substituted for the standard aluminum, cutting weight and thus fuel usage.
By the end of 2001, though, Boeing was hinting at another possible pivot.