Aviation Daily: Delta, Air France Have No Interest In Sonic Cruiser By Steve Lott/Aviation Daily 20-Sep-2002 11:55 AM U.S. EDT Boeing's proposed Sonic Cruiser will likely never fly in Delta or Air France colors, the chief executives of both airlines said yesterday, as they try to cut costs and simplify their respective fleets. Speaking to journalists yesterday in Atlanta, Delta CEO Leo Mullin explained that because of the airline's network and passenger base, the Sonic Cruiser is of little interest to him. "I think there's a place for the Sonic Cruiser in aviation," he said. "But there is not a place for the Sonic Cruiser at Delta." The comments are bad news for Boeing as the airline has been a long-time and loyal Boeing and McDonnell Douglas customer. Mullin noted the Sonic Cruiser would "not be appropriate" for Delta because of the "kind of markets we serve." He added an airline needs enough passengers willing to pay a premium to fly point-to-point at faster speeds to justify adding the aircraft. "Delta doesn't have that customer base," he said. Delta will resist adding new aircraft to its fleet, even with a long-term industry recovery. By 2010, Mullin said he plans to retire all of the airline's MD-80 narrow-body aircraft and its larger MD-11 trijets. The airline eventually plans to operate a fleet of only Boeing 737s, 757s, 767s and 777s. "To add the Sonic Cruiser would be inconsistent" with that strategy, Mullin said. In a separate interview in Atlanta, Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told The DAILY he is encouraged by the new technology Boeing is talking about using in the plane but he is "not convinced of the Sonic Cruiser by itself." Gourgeon said he would rather see Boeing "use the new technology to decrease costs in another aircraft." At the same time, Gourgeon is still eager to take delivery of the Airbus A380 in 2007, despite current industry weakness. At the Farnborough Air Show in July, Boeing talked about possibly building a new 250-seater with 30% lower direct operating costs to replace the Boeing 767 (DAILY, July 25). Commercial Airplane Group CEO Alan Mulally said then the aircraft, being evaluated as part of the Sonic Cruiser studies, would feature advanced materials and fewer parts, but would cruise at speeds similar to today's aircraft. Boeing is expected to decide by yearend whether to pursue the Mach 0.98 Sonic Cruiser or change priority to a more conventional design. Separately yesterday, Mullin offered a grim industry outlook, similar to that of President Fred Reid the day before. "The picture is not pretty," Mullin said. "Revenues have simply not come back in the way we had hoped." He noted the industry's cost burdens "have accelerated," putting much of the blame on security costs. Mullin will testify on the topic at Congressional hearings next week. While Delta is prepared to "weather the storm" Mullin said there are no visible signs of a quick recovery. In fact, Delta's traffic in the weeks surrounding the Sept. 11 anniversary exceeded its expectations, "in a negative sense." He added mainline revenues this year have come in 16% lower than 2001 largely due to Delta and other major airlines continuing to offer "discounts on discounts," he said, because there is "such an excess of supply over demand." Aviation Daily Roger EWROPS