In the highly competitive field of aerospace materials development Aleris has taken the approach of using structural analyses to highlight new material developments and manufacturing process'. The conceptual design of aircraft structures shows the possibilities of new material applications in aircraft. The development of analyses tools by CRD&T alongside the development of future aluminum alloys by Aleris approaches a similar conceptual design philosophy as has been discussed in recent years. This approach allowed Aleris not only to look at the performance of alloys in current and future structures but also for a closer look at production advantages that could be gained by alloy improvements, e.g. welding, integrated parts. Composite materials found their way onto the aircraft structures, they can be carbon fibre reinforced plastic or a fibre metal laminate. The evaluation of alloys is not only looking at the behaviour of single alloy solutions, but also at the interaction between different material solutions. The conceptual approach is used for the fuselage structure, combining static analysis and damage tolerant analysis resulting in different concepts, e.g. riveted, bonded or welded. And thus taking into account at an early stage the production advantages that solutions can offer with an improvement in performance and/or cost. In competition with the composite solutions new AlLi alloys have been developed as a weight‑saving solution for metal design. The Aleris AlMgSc development provides similar results for fuselage applications with improved impact and fatigue crack growth rate performance. Application of AlMgSc in the upper fuselage requires a riveted or bonded stringer, application in the lower fuselage a welded structure. The task then is to answer the following questions. What is the most optimum combination of properties to achieve an improvement in performance and/or a reduction in cost? Answers to these questions will be addressed in the conceptual fuselage analyses.