Environmental and Economic Impacts of Innovative Aircraft Designs: Defining the scope of development for sustainable aviation

The aviation industry has increasingly prioritized sustainability to achieve the emission reduction goals outlined in Flightpath 2050. While existing studies have predominantly focused on analyzing the environmental impact of propulsion systems, the potential of innovative aircraft designs has been mostly neglected so far. This paper addresses this gap by utilizing life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods to quantify the associated environmental and economic impacts of different innovative aircraft designs. Recent design approaches such as the forward swept configuration, box-wing configuration, and boundary layer ingestion propulsion system are exemplarily examined to assess their potential contributions to a more sustainable aviation, considering both environmental benefits and economic consequences. The study evaluates novel aircraft designs compared to the traditional Airbus A320 from production to use stage, including a break-even analysis to examine trade-offs through the aircraft lifecycle. The findings highlight the significant influence of the use stage (99.99%) and the low share of the production step (7E-6%) on overall environmental and economic impact. Furthermore, uncertainty analysis in fuel consumption is incorporated, and lifetime emissions under different fuel reduction scenarios are presented through heatmaps. Although advanced designs reduce fuel consumption and emissions, the economic viability of sustainable aviation fuels remains challenging due to their high production costs. Nonetheless, the efficiency gains from these innovative designs during the use phase enable bridging the gap between environmental objectives and economic feasibility. This research provides valuable insights into the sustainability implications of adopting innovative, fuel-efficient aircraft designs in the medium-range aviation sector, emphasizing the need to balance environmental benefits with economic considerations.