JAI includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries.

The Sonic Cruiser is a new airplane concept unveiled by Boeing on March 29, 2001. The airplane has a dramatic new configuration and is designed to fly at speeds of up to Mach 0.98 to shorten travel times.

"JAI brings excellent technological skills and resources to our team," said Jeff Luckey, director of Supplier Management for the Sonic Cruiser program. "We have worked well with JAI for many years and look forward to the advances they will help us make as we change the way the world flies with the Sonic Cruiser.

"This is our first announcement of a partner in the development of technology for the Sonic Cruiser," Luckey said. "I expect us to make similar announcements at a fairly rapid pace in the months ahead. This is the plan we laid out for the program in our announcement last week."

Boeing has a long-standing relationship with Japanese industry, dating back to 1969. More than 85 Japanese companies are already program partners, subcontractors or suppliers to Boeing across its commercial-airplane product line.

Earlier this week, Jeff Luckey, director of Supplier Management for the Sonic Cruiser program said, "to enable the Sonic Cruiser to meet our airline customer's requirements Boeing is going to utilize early involvement by potential supplier-partners to help point the way to the success of the Sonic Cruiser program.

" "We will be putting together a Boeing-supplier team to work on the technologies for the airplane and expect to announce these technology team members during the first half of this year," Luckey said. "By working together from the earliest days of the program, we will be able to bring forward the best technical solutions and the best business case for the Sonic Cruiser."

This first round of supplier selections will not include any decisions regarding design or manufacturing work.

"It is too early in the program to place design or manufacturing work," Luckey said. "Right now our focus is on technologies and we are working with candidate partners around the world to understand their capabilities for, and interest in, involvement in the program."

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