Taipei Times: What was the reason behind Boeing's decision to shelve the 747X and develop the smaller, faster long-range Sonic Cruiser?
Baseler: We had always said there was a small market for very large airplanes. So in the last few months of talking to a number of the bigger airlines that are in the market for bigger airliners and longer-range airplanes, we put in front of them a new concept of an airplane that would fly at Mach .95 or a little higher.
Also, we had over the last year or so, come across a way to build this aeroplane for less than traditional aeroplanes.
Combining advanced technology on the aerodynamics with advanced technologies of design and building, we felt we could put an aeroplane together somewhere in the range of 100 to 300 seats that could fly at least 9,000 miles and conceivably go up to 11,000 miles which basically opens up every city fare in the world.
And the idea here was that we could do it with conventional technology using today's engines like 777-style engines.
TT: How will the Sonic Cruiser change air travel when it is introduced, which is expected sometime toward the end of the decade?
Baseler: The Sonic Cruiser is a new dimension in the evolution of travel for passengers. Most of the time we talk about seat and range because most airplanes are within Mach .80 to Mach .85.
The Sonic Cruiser is truly in a different dimension. For every 3,000 miles traveled you save one hour. Something like a trans-Pacific route would see savings of an hour-and-a-half to two hours. Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles would be two hours faster, and if we gave it long enough range, the London to Sydney route would be cut by four hours.
It will also pull off a lot of the premium traffic that is connecting to hubs because it will fly point-to-point and all the premium people will go on the faster, shorter route.
TT: Is there a chance Boeing might consider reviving the 747X project sometime in the future?
Baseler: We'll keep it because if we go down this path and the airlines commit to the next evolution of the 747-400, then sometime down the road, perhaps five to six years ... we could put a new wing on it and stretch it. It would be more of a stepped function rather than a leap to an almost all-new airplane. But basically it's changing priorities. Rather than building a bigger airplane with 522 seats, the airlines would rather have an airplane that will fly faster and help work the point-to-point direct flights that passengers want
We have projected about 90 aircraft of [the super jumbo size] in 10 years through to about 2009, 2010.
Our total for the whole next 20 years is 335 passenger planes and 165 freighters with most of those being in the later part of the 20-year period.
TT: Will traveling on this airplane be affordable for budget passengers or will tickets be priced for the top-end travelers?
Baseler: The cost of this airplane should be in the realm of normal first class, normal business and it will probably have economy also, although more of the full fare economy seats.
It won't have a lot of what are known as backpacker fares.
The reason being is if it's built with 200 seats or so it will be filled up by the higher yield passengers just because that's the way the airlines will fly it. We don't see this as a supersonic Concorde where you have first class fares plus 20 percent. We really see it as the same kind of fare levels that are on the 777 today flying long-range but probably just as many economy fares on it.
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