Since its inception, STG has supported the civil aircraft industry with a variety of business- and technology-oriented research.  The types of issues include:

• Strategic and competitive assessments
• Market analysis and forecasting
• Program and facility cost analysis
• Assessments of aircraft system trends and developments

Clients have included all four commercial airframe manufacturers, most of the current (and former) regional aircraft manufacturers, most business jet manufacturers and GA aircraft manufacturers.  Clients supporting the aircraft industry have ranged from engine manufacturers to material suppliers to financing institutions.  The type of client has varied from long-established OEMs to investors and start-up operations.

The following are a few sample project descriptions undertaken in recent years.  A fuller set of qualifications and prior project abstracts are available upon request.

Success Factors of U.S. Commercial Aircraft Programs

This study, undertaken for a non-U.S. aerospace trade association, reviewed both aviation environment and project-specific factors that led to success (or failure) of U.S. commercial aircraft programs.  The project team reviewed program-specific factors promoting success such as customer coordination, economic and design considerations, and overall timing with respect to market conditions.  The team also summarized factors leading to failure such as inappropriately timed technology, early in-service technical problems, and failures in program management.  The team then recommended how a program could be structured.  A similar study with focus on different models was conducted for a major commercial manufacturer to support their internal program benchmarking efforts.

Commercial Transport Demand

STG staff have repeatedly undertaken forecasts of the commercial transport market for US domestic and international clients.  Our forecast methodology and database allow us to forecast demand for commercial aircraft seating 15 passengers up through the largest widebody airliners.  These include turboprops, regional jets and large commercial jet transports.  A couple examples illustrate the applications of this forecast.
For a major U.S. materials company, STG employees developed a 10-year forecast model of commercial transport sales.  The model considered the influence of issues such as the impact of aging aircraft, the phase-out and regulatory environment of non-Stage 3 aircraft, and aircraft purchase/financing trends. The team conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the key drivers of the forecast.  Adding company product information by aircraft size category to the forecast, the client determined its future facility capacity and investment requirements consistent with industry aircraft delivery outlook.  Several years later, the client requested an update to the forecast due to the accuracy of the original effort.
For a major Japanese trading company, we provided a 20-year forecast of turboprop and jet sales.  The results of this forecast were supplemented by a summary market-share analysis of the competing models in the larger regional jet segment.  The client utilized this forecast as one of the key inputs in their investment decision-making.

Cost Study of Regional Aircraft Programs

This study was undertaken for a new entrant to the regional aircraft industry to better understand the non-recurring certification costs and recurring production costs associated with existing regional jet manufacturers.  We were able to use a variety of press reports and models of non-recurring cost to identify the one-time costs associated with existing Bombardier and Embraer programs.  We obtained extensive cost data and developed estimates of the recurring (production) costs of one manufacturer’s aircraft at the major system level.  We evaluated the variations between this aircraft, derivatives and competing models at the system level, and developed forecasts of the systems costs of derivatives and competing models based these variations.  This study was first undertaken for aircraft in the 35 to 50-seat size category, than repeated at a later time for aircraft seating 70 to 90 passengers.

Trends in the Development of the More Electric Airplane

This study used a variety of press reports, “webcasts”, analyses, published studies and interviews to describe the technological, economic and safety reasons for the development of the More Electric Aircraft (MEA). This report described the benefits of an MEA, how MEA is influencing developments of individual systems, how MEA concepts are being implemented in the two most recently developed airliners (the Airbus A380 and Boeing B787), and how individual suppliers are responding to the MEA challenge.  The major MEA system suppliers and the contributions they have made to MEA were discussed along with a listing of the systems they are supplying to the A380 and B-787.  Future directions of MEA development for the replacement of engine fuel and oil pumps, the replacement of hydraulic flight control systems with electro-mechanical actuators and the replacement of the turbine engine-based auxiliary power unit (APU) by fuel cell-based electric unit were identified and described.

Study of Aircraft Gas Turbine Engine Programs

Our project team developed profiles of 30 gas turbine aircraft engines, focusing on newly developing engine programs (or variants) in North America and Europe, including turbofan, turboprop, and turboshaft designs.  The profiles provided information on program development, technological advances, design features and problems, performance, dimensions, market outlook and future applications.