A review of sustainability in aviation: a multidimensional perspective

The notable growth of air transportation in recent years has led to increasingly congested airports and airspace. Working at nearly maximum capacity involves risks that normally translate into operational disruptions, increasing costs, and lower service quality. Airlines also participate in a highly competitive market, where margins are diminished and streamlined operations are key to reducing their corresponding costs. In this chapter, we review several studies and applications aimed at better managing existing infrastructure and operations. Many of these works are focused on efficiently assigning resources to release unused capacity, reduce costs, and increase systems' resilience to unexpected events for sustainable transport infrastructure development. We also explore several initiatives proposed to enhance airspace capacity (e.g., SESAR program), while reducing at the same time operational and environmental costs. Efficient management, together with these initiatives, is key to ensuring sustainable growth of the aviation sector in the next few decades.