Effects of the Mismatch Between Design Capabilities and Actual Aircraft Utilization

Air routes are mainly determined by the interaction of geographical, political, economic, and social factors. On another side, airlines use their aircraft for a diversity of missions. Because of both factors the actual utilization of transport aircraft is well inside the payload-range envelope, which means that the design features are oversized for most flights. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the savings that could be achieved if transport aircraft were designed for shorter ranges: i.e., closer to the actual utilization pattern. In this design scenario the maximum takeoff weight and the operating empty weight would be remarkably reduced. This would lead to a reduction in aircraft price, trip fuel, maintenance cost, landing and navigation charges, and environmental impact. Direct operating cost is used as the figure of merit of the reduced-range approach.