Branson attacks Boeing's Sonic Cruiser

Sir Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Atlantic, yesterday criticised Boeing's decision to develop a new high-speed airliner, the Sonic Cruiser, in preference to building a new super jumbo to succeed the 747.

The Virgin chairman also reopened the debate over the safety of flying over wide stretches of water in twin-engined aircraft.

His comments came as Virgin took delivery of the first of its new £1.25bn fleet of four-engined Airbus A340-600 aircraft – the longest jet in the world at 75.3 metres.

Speaking on the opening day of the Farnborough Air Show, Sir Richard said Virgin's market research showed almost a fifth of long-haul passengers had a clear preference for flying in four-engined aircraft. He said if an engine failed on the A340-600 it could still complete a journey across the Atlantic whereas a twin-engined aircraft would have to make an emergency diversion to the nearest landing point, such as Iceland.

Airbus has just launched a £5m advertising campaign to promote the A340 with the slogan "4 Engines 4 Long Haul''.

Sir Richard, whose airline is also a launch customer for the four-engined 555-seater Airbus A380 super jumbo, said he believed in the philosophy of "big is beautiful''.

Asked about the battle between the A380 and the Sonic Cruiser, Sir Richard said: "I think the A380 is the way of the future just as Boeing thought the 747 was 30 years ago. Airbus has made a brave decision but I am sure they will be proved right.''

He said he doubted whether there was a market for the Sonic Cruiser – a twin-engined concept plane which would seat 250 passengers and fly non-stop on routes such as London-Sydney at just below the speed of sound. "You can't get slots at Heathrow or Gatwick and other principal airports around the world,'' said Sir Richard. "Unless more runways are built the Sonic Cruiser is going to struggle because airlines will not have the slots to use the aircraft,'' he added.

Earlier Phil Condit, the chairman of Boeing, said there was a "high probability'' that the Sonic Cruiser feasibility studies being undertaken would produce an aircraft worth proceeding with although he would not elaborate. He said Boeing expected the current unprecedented downturn in air travel to lead to a 14 per cent decline in passenger numbers – seven times greater than in the aftermath of the Gulf war.

Boeing is cutting production from 380 aircraft this year to between 275 and 300 next year although Mr Condit said the company believed that 2003 would mark the low point in the current downturn.

This year's air show is likely to see a much lower level of orders than in previous years, although Airbus kicked off proceedings yesterday with an $800m order for its wide-bodied A330-200 from KLM. The Dutch carrier, previously an exclusively Boeing customer, also took out options on a further 18 A330s worth £2.5bn and confirmed a $344m order for two more long-range Boeing 777s.