One of the worst-kept secrets of the last few weeks was the imminent death of the Boeing Sonic Cruiser program. With a slowing economy and a tanking airline industry, the kind of innovation and investment required by the Boeing Sonic Cruiser program was probably unsupportable. The other shoe has now dropped, and the barely subsonic (.95Mach) concept is being put on the back burner, if not shelved altogether.

Speed will not be the cornerstone of Boeing's marketing emphasis, for the foreseeable future. Instead, the folks from Seattle will "punt" and rely on selling to the steadiest and most vocal concern expressed by the embattled airline industry: bucks. So, the swept wing, canard-equipped futurism seen in the initial design photos released by Boeing for the Sonic Cruiser program is a goner. In its stead, the industry may soon be seeing pix of a somewhat down-scaled 777 cousin.

The new bird, possibly named the "787," will boast a very marketable 15-20% reduction in fuel burn, 777-equivalent range of 7000-8000 miles, and reliance on higher tech materials and manufacturing concepts. The industry is expected to support as many as 2000-3000 airframes; the new bird is expected to evenutually supplant the 757 and 767.

Official launch may come as late as 2004, but birds are expected to be in service by 2008. Not so surprisingly, Boeing's Alan Mulally is already jockeying for special consideration by hinting that this may NOT be a Washington built aircraft, throwing the door open for what could be a ferocious bidding war among states that may be interested in attracting Boeing's high-tech jobs and wage base.

More Life in the 737 Program

Seen to be the most-successful program ever produced by Boeing, there is to be yet another variant of the 737. The 737-900X is expected to launch in 2003 with 205 passengers and a probable first buy by Qantas. A longer-range 777-200 is also expected to join the mix relatively soon.

Either Way, 2003 and '04 Are Going to Be Lean Years

After spectacular highs in recent years for Boeing (in terms of aircraft production), execs are admitting that the next two years will see only 275-285 aircraft produced a year. Boeing will have built about 380 planes by the end of 2002. But, just two years ago, Boeing cranked out 622.

FMI: www.boeing.com