IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i2p564-d1565757.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Thematic Analysis, Definition, and a Green Aviation Conceptual Model—Putting It All Together

Author

Listed:
  • Raafat George Saade

    (Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Global Governance, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Xue Zhang

    (International Association for Green Aviation, School of Global Governance, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Ce Yu

    (International Association for Green Aviation, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Junchen Yao

    (International Association for Green Aviation, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

The notion of ‘Green Aviation’ has gained interest over the last three years. However, there is no clear definition of what the term green aviation means. Many interpret the meaning to describe the focus of their study, resulting in a diverse understanding of what it entails. In this study, we present our systematic approach to proposing a definition that meets all stakeholders’ understanding and extract from the definition an actionable framework. Focusing on total quality management and circular economy frameworks, we followed a two-step approach towards the definition: Conduct a thematic analysis on the body of literature, followed by consultations with green aviation professionals. Green aviation is defined as sustainable aviation practices to minimize environmental impact and continuously improve social wellbeing. This definition is used to extract a conceptual framework to help future research work and sustainability integration into the practitioner’s strategic planning. The proposed framework adapts the triple bottom line theory to include an organization’s level of social, environmental, and economic integration towards increased ‘sustainability value’. Our study findings provide organizations with insight into pathways towards the successful integration of their environmental goals into their strategic planning, where continuous improvement and social responsibility play a central role.

Suggested Citation

  • Raafat George Saade & Xue Zhang & Ce Yu & Junchen Yao, 2025. "A Thematic Analysis, Definition, and a Green Aviation Conceptual Model—Putting It All Together," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-25, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:2:p:564-:d:1565757
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/2/564/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/2/564/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gieri Hinnen & Stefanie Lena Hille & Andreas Wittmer, 2017. "Willingness to Pay for Green Products in Air Travel: Ready for Take‐Off?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 197-208, February.
    2. Andrés, Lidia & Padilla, Emilio, 2018. "Driving factors of GHG emissions in the EU transport activity," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 60-74.
    3. Peter Korba & Ingrid Sekelová & Martina Koščáková & Annamária Behúnová, 2023. "Passengers’ Knowledge and Attitudes toward Green Initiatives in Aviation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-25, April.
    4. Jan Vespermann & Andreas Wittmer, 2011. "Financial, ecological and managerial impacts of emission trading schemes: the case of Lufthansa," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 174-191, March.
    5. Batoul Modarress Fathi & Al Ansari & Alexander Ansari, 2023. "Green Commercial Aviation Supply Chain—A European Path to Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-14, April.
    6. Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Joaquín López Pascual & Juan Carlos Meléndez Rodríguez, 2021. "Sustainability in the Aerospace Sector, a Transition to Clean Energy: The E 2 -EVM Valuation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Miguel Perez‐Valls & Jose Cespedes‐Lorente & Juan Moreno‐Garcia, 2016. "Green Practices and Organizational Design as Sources of Strategic Flexibility and Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8), pages 529-544, December.
    8. Andreas W. Schäfer & Antony D. Evans & Tom G. Reynolds & Lynnette Dray, 2016. "Costs of mitigating CO2 emissions from passenger aircraft," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(4), pages 412-417, April.
    9. Zhansheng Zhang & Jianhua Ping, 2016. "Environmental impact assessment with CO 2 control of construction project and its application in China," International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 39(1/2), pages 70-88.
    10. Aarti Singh & Sushil & Samarjit Kar & Dragan Pamucar, 2019. "Stakeholder Role for Developing a Conceptual Framework of Sustainability in Organization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Rui Qiu & Shuhua Hou & Xin Chen & Zhiyi Meng, 2021. "Green aviation industry sustainable development towards an integrated support system," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2441-2452, July.
    12. Mei Bai & Wen Li & Jin Xu, 2023. "Research on Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Methods of SBR and Anoxic Oxic Urban Sewage Treatment System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-15, April.
    13. Rodrigo Lozano, 2023. "Analysing organisations' engagement with and impacts to sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5721-5733, December.
    14. Ismi Rajiani & Sebastian Kot, 2018. "The Prospective Consumers of the Indonesian Green Aviation Initiative for Sustainable Development in Air Transportation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, May.
    15. Ioannis Karagiannis & Panagiotis Vouros & Antonis Skouloudis & Konstantinos Evangelinos, 2019. "Sustainability reporting, materiality, and accountability assessment in the airport industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(7), pages 1370-1405, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rui Qiu & Shuhua Hou & Xin Chen & Zhiyi Meng, 2021. "Green aviation industry sustainable development towards an integrated support system," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2441-2452, July.
    2. Belén Payán‐Sánchez & Miguel Pérez‐Valls & José Antonio Plaza‐Úbeda & Diego Vázquez‐Brust, 2022. "Network ambidexterity and environmental performance: Code‐sharing in the airline industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1169-1183, March.
    3. Ahmed Eid & May Salah & Mahmoud Barakat & Matevz Obrecht, 2022. "Airport Sustainability Awareness: A Theoretical Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Frank Goedertier & Bert Weijters & Joeri Van den Bergh, 2024. "Are Consumers Equally Willing to Pay More for Brands That Aim for Sustainability, Positive Societal Contribution, and Inclusivity as for Brands That Are Perceived as Exclusive? Generational, Gender, a," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Ericka Costa & Dario Montemurro & Diego Giuliani, 2019. "Consumers’ willingness to pay for green cars: a discrete choice analysis in Italy," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 2425-2442, October.
    6. Philip R. Walsh & Rachel Dodds & Julianna Priskin & Jonathon Day & Oxana Belozerova, 2021. "The Corporate Responsibility Paradox: A Multi-National Investigation of Business Traveller Attitudes and Their Sustainable Travel Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Zhao, Shikuan & Abbassi, Wajih & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Zhang, Han, 2024. "How do government R&D subsidies affect corporate green innovation choices? Perspectives from strategic and substantive innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 1378-1396.
    8. Tan, Fuqiang & Li, Xi & Agarwal, Reeti & Joshi, Yatish & Yaqub, Muhammad Zafar, 2024. "Does multilingual packaging influence purchasing in retail segment? Evidence from multiple experiments," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Tulin Dzhengiz & Eva Niesten, 2020. "Competences for Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Review on the Impact of Absorptive Capacity and Capabilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 881-906, April.
    10. Alexander Barke & Walter Cistjakov & Dominik Steckermeier & Christian Thies & Jan‐Linus Popien & Peter Michalowski & Sofia Pinheiro Melo & Felipe Cerdas & Christoph Herrmann & Ulrike Krewer & Arno Kwa, 2023. "Green batteries for clean skies: Sustainability assessment of lithium‐sulfur all‐solid‐state batteries for electric aircraft," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 795-810, June.
    11. Vitiana L'Abate & Filippo Vitolla & Paolo Esposito & Nicola Raimo, 2023. "The drivers of sustainability disclosure practices in the airport industry: A legitimacy theory perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1903-1916, July.
    12. Zia Wadud & Muhammad Adeel & Jillian Anable, 2024. "Understanding the large role of long-distance travel in carbon emissions from passenger travel," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 9(9), pages 1129-1138, September.
    13. Minnich, Aljoscha & Rau, Holger A. & Schlüter, Jan, 2020. "The effects of financial and non-financial incentives on the demand for a sustainable DRT system," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 394, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    14. Adeline Montlaur & Luis Delgado & César Trapote-Barreira, 2021. "Analytical Models for CO 2 Emissions and Travel Time for Short-to-Medium-Haul Flights Considering Available Seats," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Drago, Carlo & Fortuna, Fabio, 2023. "Investigating the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Relationship: A Bibliometric Analysis Using Keyword-Ensemble Community Detection," FEEM Working Papers 336985, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    16. Han-Shen Chen & Bi-Kun Tsai & Chi-Ming Hsieh, 2018. "The Effects of Perceived Barriers on Innovation Resistance of Hydrogen-Electric Motorcycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-15, June.
    17. Moneim Massar & Imran Reza & Syed Masiur Rahman & Sheikh Muhammad Habib Abdullah & Arshad Jamal & Fahad Saleh Al-Ismail, 2021. "Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles on Greenhouse Gas Emissions—Positive or Negative?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-23, May.
    18. Chien‐Chiang Lee & Ying Yuan & Huwei Wen, 2022. "Can digital economy alleviate CO2 emissions in the transport sector? Evidence from provincial panel data in China," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(3), pages 289-310, August.
    19. Mengyuan Sun & Yong Tian & Yao Zhang & Muhammad Nadeem & Can Xu, 2021. "Environmental Impact and External Costs Associated with Hub-and-Spoke Network in Air Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Ekici, Selcuk & Ayar, Murat & Orhan, Ilkay & Karakoc, Tahir Hikmet, 2024. "Cruise altitude patterns for minimizing fuel consumption and emission: A detailed analysis of five prominent aircraft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:2:p:564-:d:1565757. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.