Flying Wing versus Conventional Transport Airplane: the 300 Seat Case

Unconventional aircraft are being studied by the aeronautical engineering community with accelerated interest and effort to improve economic efficiency and to overcome operational and infrastructure-related problems associated to the increasing size of transport airplanes. The objective of the research reported here is to assess the technical feasibility and operational efficiency of a medium size, wingspan-limited flying wing in C layout; a configuration which has many advantages at easily achievable technology levels. To this end, the conceptual design process of a 300 seat C-wing has been done, completed with a comparison of performance and operational issues with last generation twins. The results are greatly encouraging and predict 10-20 percent increase in transport productivity efficiency, without the burden of new or aggravated safety or operational problems.