Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Graduate
Project Type
individual
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Craig Dedrick, Graduate student
Lead Presenter's Name
Craig Dedrick
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Engineering
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Vedapuri Raghavan
Abstract
The aviation industry faces increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact, yet standardized methods for evaluating airline sustainability performance remain limited. This study proposes a structured sustainability index designed to benchmark airline environmental strategies using fourteen key performance indicators (KPIs) derived from publicly disclosed corporate sustainability and annual reports. To improve analytical clarity, the KPIs are organized into seven conceptual clusters capturing distinct dimensions of environmental performance: strategic governance and commitment, operational and fleet efficiency, the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) ecosystem, emissions reduction and climate mitigation outcomes, carbon management and neutralization, energy transition and electrification, and environmental pollution and resource management. The index applies a standardized Likert-scale scoring framework to enable consistent cross-airline comparison, illustrating how publicly reported sustainability data can be systematically translated into a comparable performance index. The proposed framework provides a transparent and scalable approach for assessing airline decarbonization efforts and establishes a foundation for future research expanding the index across additional environmental performance indicators.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Included in
A Sustainability Index for Airlines: A KPI-Based Framework for Benchmarking Environmental Performance
The aviation industry faces increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact, yet standardized methods for evaluating airline sustainability performance remain limited. This study proposes a structured sustainability index designed to benchmark airline environmental strategies using fourteen key performance indicators (KPIs) derived from publicly disclosed corporate sustainability and annual reports. To improve analytical clarity, the KPIs are organized into seven conceptual clusters capturing distinct dimensions of environmental performance: strategic governance and commitment, operational and fleet efficiency, the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) ecosystem, emissions reduction and climate mitigation outcomes, carbon management and neutralization, energy transition and electrification, and environmental pollution and resource management. The index applies a standardized Likert-scale scoring framework to enable consistent cross-airline comparison, illustrating how publicly reported sustainability data can be systematically translated into a comparable performance index. The proposed framework provides a transparent and scalable approach for assessing airline decarbonization efforts and establishes a foundation for future research expanding the index across additional environmental performance indicators.