After Boeings announcement, some airline executives, like United Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air Canada chiefs, have spoken favourably of the concept, while others remain sceptical. Transatlantic flights could be 90 min shorter, while transpacific services would save 3 hours of flight time. This would be especially applicable for airlines to offer premium services for first and business class passengers, Boeing believes. Baseline in May 2001 seemed to be a 767-sized aircraft with 250 seats and a range of 16700 km or more. Boeing will probably seek risk-sharing partners in developing and building the Sonic Cruiser.
Japan is top on the list.
This apparently followed a strategic review, in which Boeing renounced development of new 747X variants in the face of the early success of the Airbus A380. It is said that briefings to airlines started in early March. For the time being, this new aircraft is no more than a generic concept, still to be discussed with the airlines. It seems that it first emerged in late 1999 and then got more impetus in the fall of 2000. Industry analysts are not so sure on the prospects, though, with Airbus predictably denouncing the Sonic Cruiser as technically not feasible.