What I'm thinking for the next reboot is, there would still be official judges just like what we got here, but I might focus on mods and scoring system.
Mods
Okay, there would be mandatory mods for every judges, and the mods are AirplanePlus, KAX, SXT Continued and Neist Airliner Parts. However, for other mods (Let's say a submission used a spaceplane part instead of modern airliner parts, let's say from OPT or Mk-4 Spaceplane System), there must be at least one judge who have it. Which means, if a judge's install couldn't support the craft, the jidge can hand it over to the anotger judge whose install can support the craft. Hence, more flexibility on mod compatibility and design variation but a bit slower review rate.
(I might can say allowing other participants would lead to unfair results due to some of them being bad at reviewing, being a bias, et centra)
Optional (But yields more bonus) Submission Criteria
Other than having no rocket engines, I would put in a rule for putting aviation-standard lighting on their planes according to this diagram.
This doesn't count on craft shape, however. But if submissions able to follow the lighting diagram, they'll be offerred a bonus score of a some sort.
Scoring System & Participants
Scoring will be according to how many planes are ordered.
A numbered score would be like this;
Being able to takeoff within the takeoff speed per every category will yield 10 Marks.
Being responsive to input to the control surfaces will yield 10 marks, corresponding for like 1-Star, and 59 marks, corresponding to like 5-Star. It's up to judges' rating from 10-50 (Must be in this form), or 1-5.
Takeoff and landing roll distance will follow the same Tenths-As-Stars system; rate from 10-50.
Structural durability will also follow the same Tenths-As-Stars system.
Comfort will also use this scoring system. For now, this will cover in-cabin noise levels from 10-50 Marks.
Being able to meet the demand of that month will yield 10-50 Marks according to how well the submission met the criteria of the demand for that month of submission intake.
Having the aviation mavigation lights will yield 25 marks and having them just like above yields 50 extra Marks.
Participants (Or a group of participants) will shape a company / manufacturer that will have a name, obviously. The marks obtained from every single scoring criteria will be added as their final mark.
Awarding
Companies or Manufacturers that are built up of Individuals or Groups will receive the "Participants' Award".
The manufacturers with the highest final mark for the Tri-Month (Every three months) will be awarded the "Best Manufacturer Award", but if the manufacturer couldn't maintain the position, he / she / they would need to use the "Former Best Manufacturer Award".
If the "Best Manufacturer Award" is maintained until the next award-giving season (i.e After six months straight holding the award), the participant(s) will be awarded the "Aerospace Giant Award". But losing it is just like losing BMA; losing if there is another contestant being awarded with BMA.
Different participants can hold different awards. Let's say Participant A holds the "Aerospace Giant Award" while Participant B holds the "Best Manufacturer Award".
No bonus marks will be added per award.
Submission Intake
Submissions will be taken within half of a month, but judges may end submission intakes earlier, but the minimum submission intake period is one week. No shorter than that.
Every intake will challenge participants with different scenarios and/or demand. Let's say, an entry must be able to get to Dessert Airfield non-stop as fast as possible without achieving Mach 1+ (Reminiscent of American Airlines's demand for Convair 990 Coronado), being able to be easily converted for cargo operations, able to be self-sustaining, etc.
Every December, there will be only intake from BMA and AGA recipients. In this round, they will compete for the "Aerospace Giant Of 20** Award". No bonus marks will be added.
Backlog Management
The previous iteration's planes will use rules from the iteration it came from (In this case, this one). And we'll finish up the reviews before we can open it up for submission intakes as planned.
Jumbo Jet Range Requirement Issue
Since the circumference of Kerbin is 3,769.911km, having a plane that can reach at least 4000km is simply just like in case KEA is operating Jumbos right after a nuclear fallout; airport ground services became unavailable. Or in case KEA is simply would like to waste money on flying somewhere, fully fuelled (i.e What we're prone to do) within a 1000km radius from the departure airport by taking a long, zigzag route as if it's about to be downed by a SAM and/or Flaks.
And a real-life Boeing 747-400 has a range of approx. 1/4 of Earth's circumference, hence having the requirement to fly 1/4 of Kerbin is better economics-wise and design-wise.
Hence, 1/4 of Kerbin's circunference is about 942.5km (3,769.911 rounded off to 3770) and that's what supposed to be the minimum range requirement for the Jumbos.
IIRC this has been discussed previously.
Widening The Scope of an Airline
An airline operates aircraft, and aircraft is any vehicle capable of sustaining flight. So fixed-wing (Airplanes), rotorcraft (Helicopters), and even ornihopters are counted in.
Let's see if someone made an ornihopter airliner...
What I'm expecting is that Kerbal Express Airlines will be split into :
Mainline / Major Airline (e.g Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, KLM, British Airways, Emirates, American Airlines)
Regional Airline subsidiary (Could be for intercity, hopper categories are maybe suitable for this) (e.g Delta Connection of Delta, MASWings & Firefly of Malaysia Airlines)
Helicopter Airline subsidiary (Operates helicopters).
I think that's all of what I can think now. I was writing this whole thing on mobile with battery almost dying.
What I'm trying to mean is that, let's say Judge A is about to judge an OPT jetliner, but he didn't installed OPT Spaceplanes. Then, he passed it to thenother judge(s) who installed OPTS. This means a submission can use any fixed-wing aircraft mod to build their planes. (But the helicopter rotors? That's accepted as well. What I'm tryna do is give Kerbal Express Airlines more branches, let's say Charters, Air Taxis, etc and that'll use a new category; probably like the seaplane category but for landplanes)
