Expanding Horizons: A Review of Sustainability Evaluation Methodologies in the Airport Sector and Beyond

Abstract

Addressing a significant gap in the literature, this study commences with a dual focus: assessing sustainability evaluations, both within the airport sector and across a broader range of industries. Through a comprehensive review of 33 academic articles specific to airport sustainability, we delve into a detailed analysis of 16 papers that implement specific methodologies for assessing airport sustainability performance. These methodologies are compartmentalized into three primary categories: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and its extensions, Hybrid Multiple-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), and composite index-based assessments. A meta-review extending beyond the airport sector uncovers common issues across industries, including the absence of universally adaptable sustainability frameworks and an overemphasis on assessment, overshadowing the essential role of sustainability accounting. Our findings underscore the need for a paradigm shift from pure evaluation towards a holistic approach to sustainability modeling. With systems thinking at its core, this approach allows a better grasp of the complex interactions and feedback loops within sustainability systems and provides a strategy to tackle inherent trade-offs and compensatory effects. By exposing gaps in current practices, this study paves the way for future research, particularly the integration of systems thinking with MCDM, promising to enrich sustainability evaluation and management methodologies, ultimately facilitating more sustainable airport operations.