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The need to measure the relative value of business and commercial aircraft and how the designer/analyst can formulate an initial idea of what should constitute a satisfactory array of aircraft design specifications is presented. This is achieved firstly through the establishment of relevant productivity indexes using key target parameters or macroscopic objective functions. To complement this, a new primal objective function construct designated as the Airframer Paradigm is reviewed in order to ascertain how much a given set of design specifications are worth to the market. Finally, an overview of how new technologies and utility features affect the value of aircraft as well as an assessment of design philosophies for the present and future are discussed.

A series of prediction algorithms suitable for the pre-design stage of industrial conceptual transport aircraft design are derived in this treatise. The methods have been devised by hybridizing statistical correlation of design variables, synthetic functions and macro-objective functions with fractional change analytical constructs. Applicability of these prediction algorithms encompasses personal/micro turbofans, business aircraft from very light to ultra-long range categories to commercial aircraft from commuters to narrow-body transports of around 100 PAX. It is highlighted that the methods have been generated from a dataset of information limited to in-production or formally launched transport aircraft, hence reflects only a contemporary level of technological sophistication.

Description of work-in-progress design candidates during the pre-concept and conceptual aircraft design stages have traditionally followed protocol compatible with the later, more mature phases of contemporary product development, i.e. preliminary and detailed design. Up to this moment in time there has been a natural, intuitive tendency to approach design description using geometry as the initial basis upon which all analysis and design refinement could proceed. Design and integration, whether kinematic or structural (static) systems, and irrespective of applications, should be treated as a holistic problem with functionality as opposed to geometric description of a physically tangible artifact being the first step in product definition. This paper presents a coherent, logical method of describing an aircraft concept using functionality as a basis.