Originally Posted by
Wasatch Phantom
Bar,
With all due respect, the article is dated September 2005. It may be a worthwhile read for a basic perspective, but a lot has changed in six years.
The A-320 NEO was not a consideration, nor was a re-engined 737. (Do you realize design work on the 737 started in 1964. Talk about beating a dead horse...)
Competition and profit motive drive business. There are only so many airfoils. An optimized wing is an optimized wing. Fly by wire and some other technological advances save weight.
The only place for future airliners to get more mpg is engines and blended wing/body.
Blended wing requires changes to infrastructure like gates.
Engines are the key element to near term efficiency.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, at some point international airliners (and maybe even domestic) are going to be blended wing unducted fan planes.
Until then, the neo and the 737 (re-engine) are not bad options.