Its introduction of a non-stop, over-the-Pole, over-Russia, over-China flight from Newark to Hong Kong with a 777-200ER (at 7,337 nmi the longest route operated by an U.S. airline and the longest ever operated out of New York) captured the imagination-and passengers, too.

The flight takes 15 and a half hours (is it northbound? or westbound?) to get to Hong Kong, and about 16 and a half hours the other way. And, according to John Roundhill, marketing VP for new airplane programs at Boeing, it has galvanized interest from airlines around the world in his company's new Sonic Cruiser. If these are the type of long, thin routes the airlines want to fly, how well could they use a much faster, sonic airplane that could cut off another two hours on routes up to 9,000 nmi?

"Several months ago, when working on 747 growth derivatives, we heard from the airlines there was as much if not more interest in the very long range versions. We realized it was really the range as much as the size that was of interest," Roundhill told Show News. "So we rolled out this fast airplane we've been working on for 30 years-well, over many concepts-and the idea just clicked of a faster airplane that could go 7,000 miles or greater at about the size of 767."

So the Sonic Cruiser emerged, not from Boeing's Phantom Works, but from feedback from the airlines as Boeing was trying to sell them something very different.

"The airlines said they would continue to fly 747s but they saw a lot of the future growth being handled by smaller airplanes, particularly if they were available at long ranges," Roundhill said. "If they could go faster, so much the better."

The feedback was so strong that Boeing put development of future 747s on the back burner in favor of the new, fast (and physically long and thin) Sonic Cruiser.

Cruising at Mach .95 to .98, the Sonic Cruiser will cut one to two and a half hours off routes between 3,000 nmi and 9,000 nmi by going faster, and sometimes by eliminating a stop. Boeing is sizing it between 150 and 250 seats so as not to compete with the longer range 777. Indeed, it can be thought of as a very fast 767, and about the same size, too.

Five years ago Boeing considered a "Pacific Fragmenter" aircraft that would bypass hubs and develop point-to-point traffic with rather fewer seats than a 747, but technology was five years further back then, and the airline industry still focused on hubs.

Now, new technology makes the Sonic Cruiser possible. The three enablers are:

• The configuration and geometry of the airplane itself, which represents a radical departure in the design of airliners, and the materials available to make it. "Speed likes thin" as far as the wings are concerned, and this can be achieved with advanced aluminum or composites, said Roundhill. He expects the outboard wing structure to be composite.
• Advances in engine technology over the last ten years mean efficiency and reliability can be predicted right out of the box, and an engine can be designed to Sonic Cruiser requirements relatively quickly-as soon as Boeing stops playing with the rubber and defines the airplane. All three engine manufacturers are working with Boeing on possible powerplants.
• Weight saving. "Faster airplanes like low drag and love to have weight saved," said Roundhill. So extensive use of composites or advanced aluminum alloys and minimum gauge materials in the primary structure, and advanced systems applications, will all help to reduce weight.

The airplane itself features a large-area double delta wing that will allow it to climb to altitudes 8,000 feet above conventional aircraft in five less minutes; a constant section "tube" fuselage that can be stretched or shrunk before the wing join dictates coke-bottle area-ruling, and all-moving canards for trim that include a separate elevator, and another elevator at the extreme tail end of the airplane.