Boeing "Very Small" jetliner

[carsinamerica]

I found a reference to this from a Boeing brochure, probably from 1996. I have copies of two pages of it, but don't remember where I found it. It's discussing future product plans, highlighting the planned 757-200X and -300X, the upcoming 767-400X, the ultra-long-range 747-100X, and the 747-500X and -600X. Then it discusses three more vague proposals, which Boeing dubs Very Small, Very Fast, and Very Large. The Very Fast proposal, given the 1995-1996 timeframe, has to be the HSCT 1080-874 or something like it. The Very Large model is probably the NLA, although that was deprecated in favor of the enlarged 747s by 1996. What, though, is this Very Small proposal? I haven't been able to find other references to it. I'm very curious as to how far the idea got; were any designs fleshed out, etc.? Has anyone found anything about this before in Flight, AW&ST, or anywhere else?

 

[Moose]

I've not seen anything specific to that proposal recently, you might try digging through the archives of the Seattle papers in that timeframe. Mulally's team studied a lot of options in the period between 777 and Sonic Cruiser->7E7, though some of them probably didn't get much more than a preliminary look.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Interesting as that describes aircraft such as the Embraer 190, CRJ700/900, etc. I have never understood the U.S. manufacturers not making any substantive effort to penetrate the regional jet market.

Thanks! Mark