The Take-Off of Sustainability: Evaluating Sustainable Airport Performance

The aviation industry plays a vital role in our interconnected world. However, its growth also comes with environmental concerns. Airports, as air travel hubs, embrace sustainability to minimize their ecological impact. This effort involves looking beyond airplanes to the entire airport ecosystem, including energy use, waste management, and noise pollution. This study employs a systematic literature review methodology to examine sustainable airport commitment and its relationship with performance outcomes, analyzing 604 peer-reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2024 from multiple databases, including Elsevier, MDPI, and Springer. The discussion explores sustainable airport performance, examining how airports measure their sustainability efforts, focusing on improvement and the benefits of sustainable commitment in airport operations. The bibliometric analysis reveals four main research clusters: (1) Strategic Adoption for Sustainable Commitment, (2) Factors Affecting Sustainable Commitment, (3) Research on Future International Airport, and (4) Environmental Performance Challenge in Aviation. Results indicate a significant increase in research attention, particularly after 2020, with publications doubling by 2023 compared to previous years. Drawing from relevant literature, this study enhances existing work. The study encourages future research by identifying priority areas regarding sustainable airport commitment and contributing to sustainable airport performance. The findings highlight the critical role of regulatory frameworks, stakeholder engagement, and technological innovation in driving sustainable airport initiatives, while identifying research gaps in community engagement and implementation challenges for smaller airports in developing economies.