But Boeing clearly understands the issues, and they will not commit to black magic. We could build it today, or we can spend a little bit more time and put some more advanced technology into it,'' said Michael Bair, a Boeing vice president. The jet age is nothing more than an advantage in speed. And people have always been willing to pay a premium for speed. Sometimes, in the case of the Concorde, that steep fare is necessitated by operating costs.
Time is comfort.
We do not think this airplane will require a premium fare, but I'd bet a paycheck that the first routes this plane flies will be heavily frequented by first class and business class and the seats will be mostly first and business class,'' said Bair. The sonic cruiser has the potential to segregate commercial air travel - which, for a service industry, has been a very democratic exercise since deregulation nearly 25 years ago. In the hotel industry, for example, there are luxury chains at one end of the spectrum and discount motels at the other. Inside the aluminum cylinder of an aircraft, there are both the high rollers and the hoi polloi. The airline industry is cutthroat, and advantages are ephemeral.