Aero‐Circularity: Charting the Flight Path Between Circular Economy and Sustainability Performance

Aitor Salesa, Raúl León and Jose M. Moneva

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2025, vol. 34, issue 4, 4766-4784

Abstract: The aircraft manufacturing industry faces a critical juncture due to the necessity to replace ageing fleets and address the environmental impact of the industry dimension. The high demand for new aircraft and limited production capacity has driven industry leaders to integrate Circular Economy (CE) principles into their manufacturing and maintenance strategies, trying to increase aircraft lifespan. This study examines the specific CE actions implemented by aircraft manufacturers and assesses their impact on sustainability performance. Sustainability reports and non‐financial disclosures were analysed using a taxonomy tailored to the industry to identify CE actions. Econometric models were then employed to analyse the relationship between the number of CE actions adopted and sustainability performance, using REFINITIV's sustainability performance scores as dependent variables. Results indicate that companies are starting to adopt CE actions focused on product life extension and repairability. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that companies with more declared CE actions exhibit higher environmental and corporate governance performance. Hence, this study empirically validates the link between adopting CE actions and improved sustainability performance, offering practical guidance for aircraft manufacturers and informing policymakers, investors, and other stakeholders on the benefits of CE actions in the industry.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4235

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:34:y:2025:i:4:p:4766-4784

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://onlinelibrary ... 1002/(ISSN)1099-0836

Access Statistics for this article

Business Strategy and the Environment is currently edited by Richard Welford

More articles in Business Strategy and the Environment from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().