Joint Optimization of Aircraft Design-Valuation-Allocation for Sustainable Aviation

The financial success of a commercial aircraft is just as important as its technical success. Introducing a new commercial aircraft involves setting the top-level aircraft design requirements that suit the operations of the airline customers. However, starting a new commercial aircraft program also involves significant capital investment coupled with high risk and uncertainty for the manufacturer. For a commercial aircraft design program to succeed, it must address both the airlines' operations and the manufacturer's profit together. Previous research primarily focused on combining aircraft design with fleet allocation or program valuation, often overlooking the dynamics between the manufacturer and airline. This work proposes a design-valuation-allocation framework that combines aircraft design, fleet allocation, and program valuation into a single optimization framework. The goal is to introduce a future narrow-body aircraft to an existing airline fleet by determining a top-level aircraft design requirements that are profitable to both the airline and manufacturer while reducing the airline's fleet emissions. The value of the proposed approach is demonstrated through experiments on a 223-route network, which shows a 4.15% reduction in fleet emissions with the best future aircraft design compared to the baseline while maintaining program profitability. This work highlights the importance of connecting manufacturer and airline decision-making through a coupled framework to achieve both financial viability and emission reduction targets during the aircraft preliminary design phase.