travelhound wrote:In contrast, the advantages of new technologies
Which technologies exactly ? And what kind of advantages do they bring ?
I'm not saying there are none, but technology is only a mean to the end of running the business (in the case carrying passengers). It does not in itself bring advantages ; instead the right technologies need to be applied to the right problem. It may very well be that "old" tech does the job quite well. Throwing new tech at a problem without defining said problem is merely a way to increase costs and risks.
travelhound wrote:regardless of available technologies a wing optimised to fly stage lengths between 2000-5000nm is going to be different to a wing optimised to fly stage lengths between 500-3000nm. As such an MOM having a wing optimised for its intended route profile should be capable of creating a significant advantage overran A320 series derived aircraft
Supposing the A320 is not upgraded with a new wing. Contrary to what I have seen several times here, the fuselage is the most complex area to design. It's where you have passengers, meaning stringent certification issues, pressure control (and variations), temperature control, fire protection, cabin customisation, electrical wiring everywhere, toilets and galleys which may leak, ground servicing which may induce damage...
While not simple to design, a wing is mainly an aerostructure optimisation problem with relatively few other constraints (engines, landing gear and fuel, mainly, which are fairly well known integration constraints).
Additionnally, the wing is a natural module, so as long as a new wing is compatible with the center wing box, it should be possible to switch designs *relatively* easily.
travelhound wrote:Again, an oval fuselage manufactured from CFRP that results in a higher percentage of usable fuselage volume would result in higher payload to weight ratios. An A322, as a consequence of being a derivative of the A320, which uses a circular fuselage made from aluminium, would have an inherent disadvantage.
But once the constraints mentioned above are added in, will the difference be that great ?
Again, not saying not the gains will not be there ; I'm just dubious about the magnitude of the difference in fuel burn.
Meanwhile the A321 (A322?) below and A330 above have installed and paid for manufacturing, training and maintenance infrastructure all around the globe. In addition to the >10B$ development costs, all that infrastructure needs to be put in place, adding another hefty lump of billions of $.
Any MoM concept will have to justify those total lifecycle ownership costs by a significant operational cost advantage...And not over the current A321/A330, but over what they could be in 10 years. That's a tough proposition.
travelhound wrote:My post was in reference to a A322 competing with the a MOM. In this scenario a MOM would probably win regardless if a nwe wing is used for the A322.
The MOM may win in terms of fuel burn per pax, but that is just one aspect of the lifecycle
It could very well win this battle but lose the war.