Boeing Sonic Cruiser - The Answer To The Airbus A380 - Never Built

Never Built: Boeing Sonic Cruiser -
Project Glacier. Boeing's Answer To The Airbus A380.

Airplane footage from @ReverseThrustAviation

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2001, Airbus came to the table with the game-changer A380, it could fly more passengers than ever before and it left rivals scrambling.

But not Boeing. They had an answer up their sleeved called Project Glacier, or otherwise known as The Boeing Sonic Cruiser

Airbus and Boeing proposed two radically different solutions to an aviation problem.

Airports could only take so many flights, and landing slots were becoming increasingly expensive. Some airports, like London Heathrow and New York JFK, actually sold slot pairs for millions of dollars. Thus if airlines couldn't buy more landing slots, what could they do?
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The first solution is to increase the number of seats on planes. The A380, the biggest capacity passenger aircraft ever built, allowed airlines to fly more seats on routes without increasing slots.

Boeing actually saw a different answer. They saw that many of the passengers flying into these airports were flying onwards to other destinations.

For example, some of the passengers in New York to London may have actually been trying to travel from Washington DC to Manchester. So why not allow more direct flights between these two communities? This would mean less time in hub airports and a quicker journey.

Thus Boeing came up with a new aircraft that could operate to these smaller airports, faster and targeted a different market segment than the A380.

Part 2: The Boeing Sonic Cruiser - Project Glacier

So what was this crazy new concept?
It was designed to be a 'subsonic' aircraft, flying JUST under the speed of sound, around 10-20% faster than normal jet aircraft. This would be around Mach 0.95-0.98 (which is 650 mph (1,050 km/h) at altitude).
No sonic boom, thus no problems, which was one of the flaws of the Concorde.

Over long distances, this speed made a big difference. With the Boeing sonic cruiser, the flight only took just over 11 hours (11:10).

Going fast would mean that the Boeing Sonic Cruiser would fly at a higher altitude than other aircraft, over 40,000 feet (12,000 m).

The aircraft would be 250 feet long (76 meters) and have a wingspan of 164.9 feet (50.3 m) It would use a delta wing arrangement, and would use canards in place of a tail.

It would carry 200-250 passengers to a range between 6,000 and 10,000 nautical miles (11,000 and 19,000 km). Much like they do today with the Boeing 777X program.

It would have been built with an advanced composite of titanium and ceramics. At the time, most aircraft were using a full metal body and were quite heavy (especially Boeing's rival the Airbus A380). This composite structure would have reduced the airframe weight by around 70%. This made the aircraft one of the most fuel-efficient in the world at the time.

Boeing announced the sonic cruiser just after the A380 to try and upstage Airbus and got some early interest from American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

Part 3: Too fast too furious

Alas, like all visionary projects there were some flaws with the design.

For one the speed was actually a crutch. In the United States, many airports actually had a curfew, and the sonic cruiser using existing slots would actually arrive before the airports opened.

The allure of faster speed did not sway many airlines. Whilst the speed was of interest to passengers, it was not worth it at the cost of more fuel burn.

Lastly, the timing wasn't right for the aircraft. In 2001, the aviation industry took a big hit following the 9/11 attacks and demand for new aircraft, especially unproven aircraft fell.

Part 4: Research goes forward

But Boeing didn't exactly give up on the concept. They may have not had much interest from airlines, but the research didn't go to waste.

They labeled it Project Yellowstone, or 7E7 (e for efficiency) would no longer have the sonic speed but would burn the least fuel of any aircraft. The 7e7 would then be renamed the 787 and become the Boeing Dreamliner that we know and love today.

15 years on, we can see which was more successful. The Airbus A380 has been shut down with little to no second hand market, and the Boeing 787 is still going strong with 972 built and 1510 ordered.

A final footnote is that Boeing actually updated the Sonic Cruiser patent in 2012. It was based off research done in part with Nasa on a future High-Speed Civil Transport concept to carry 100 passengers close to the speed of sound to 6,000 nautical miles. Whether or not it will go ahead remains to be seen, but it seems that the dream of the Boeing sonic cruiser isn't dead yet.

Do you think airlines should have offered fast air travel? Let me know in the comments.

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