EcoFlight

Keeping eco-design and circular economy principlespreserved in technology development.

A structured decision guide for everyone involved in aviation cabin technology development, to help understand eco-design and circular economy principles, operationalize the right methods at the right stage, and justify environmental ambitions through development projects.

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Phase 01

Phase 01 — Awareness

Understand
the landscape

Learn the structural barriers and conditions that filter out eco-design and circular economy intent across TRL stages. Before you can act on these criteria, you need to understand what which ones are coming into place, and why they persist across every multiple stages of development.

Enter Barriers & Conditions

Phase 02

Phase 02 — Operationalize

Identify
and act

After finding out which barriers and conditions are active at your current stage, this overview allows you to find the right methods and tools to address them, and investigate where in your project these are most significant.

Methods & Tools

Phase 03

Phase 03 — Justify

Reframe and
commercialize

Reframe sustainable intentions in the commercial language that survives decision-makers reviews and program handovers. Learn from the organizational conditions that have protected these intentions in real projects.

Best Practices

Eco-Design

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The integration of environmental criteria into the earliest stages of product or technology development. In aviation, environmental impact is dominated by the operational use phase, often making weight the primary measurable eco-design criterion, as every kilogram saved directly reduces fuel burn across the aircraft's service life. Next to that, eco-design is one of the methods through which circular economy principles are made possible, such as the principle of designing for disassembly.

Circular Economy

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A resource management model that keeps materials in use for as long as possible, aiming for a closed material loop. Rather than replacing components and discarding materials, the circular economy prioritises recovering their value, through reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling, in that order of preference. In commercial aviation technology development this is not yet standard practice: most end-of-life treatment currently amounts to downcycling or energy recovery. The goal of this playbook is to help push that further up the hierarchy.

Technology Readiness Levels

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The nine-level scale used globally in aerospace R&T to assess and communicate the maturity of a technology, from initial concept (TRL 1) to proven deployment (TRL 9). Gate decisions at each level determine whether a technology advances. These gates were built around technical performance, safety, and cost, not environmental value. Understanding where you are on the TRL scale determines which criteria are prioritized, which barriers are most active, and which methods are most applicable.

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Describe your project situation, development stage, or the barrier you're facing. The assistant will route you to the most relevant section of EcoFlight.

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Keeping eco-design and circular economy principlespreserved in technology development.

Understandthe landscape

Identifyand act

Reframe andcommercialize

Talk to theassistant

Understand
the landscape

Identify
and act

Reframe and
commercialize

Talk to the
assistant