The Avanti has turboprop engines in a pusher configuration, placed on a mid-fuselage, high aspect ratio wing, located behind the cabin. The design utilizes both a T-tail and a small fixed canard which lacks control surfaces. The arrangement of the wing surfaces allows all three to provide lift, as opposed to a conventional configuration where the horizontal stabilizer creates a downward force to counteract the nose-down moment that a conventional main wing generates.

Distinctive design features include a non-constant cross section cabin, the revolutionary shape of which approximates a NACA airfoil section. Piaggio claims the fuselage contributes up to 20% of the Avanti's total lift, with horizontal stabilizer, wing and canard providing the remaining 80%. Because of the fuselage's unusual shape, the mid cabin is considerably wider than the cockpit, and the entire cabin sits ahead of the main wing spar. The wing and canard airfoils are custom sections designed by Dr. Gerry Gregorek of Ohio State University to achieve a drag-reducing 50% laminar flow at cruise.