Boeing

The Boeing Commercial Airplanes team will be working together with the best aerospace suppliers in the world to develop the technologies needed for the Sonic Cruiser program.

The Sonic Cruiser, a new airplane concept unveiled by Boeing on March 29, 2001, has a dramatic new configuration and is designed to fly at speeds of up to Mach 0.98 to shorten travel times. Boeing has been working together closely with the world's airlines to define the performance, economic and environmental requirements of the Sonic Cruiser concept.

"To enable the Sonic Cruiser to meet our airline customer's requirements Boeing is going to utilize early involvement by potential supplier-partners to help point the way to the success of the Sonic Cruiser program," said Jeff Luckey, director of Supplier Management for the Sonic Cruiser program.

"We will be putting together a Boeing-supplier team to work on the technologies for the airplane and expect to announce these technology team members during the first half of this year," Luckey said. "By working together from the earliest days of the program, we will be able to bring forward the best technical solutions and the best business case for the Sonic Cruiser."

This first round of supplier selections will not include any decisions regarding design or manufacturing work.

"It is too early in the program to place design or manufacturing work," Luckey said. "Right now our focus is on technologies and we are working with candidate partners around the world to understand their capabilities for, and interest in, involvement in the program."

The Sonic Cruiser leadership team and primary development team is based in Everett, Wash.