Title: Measuring the corporate sustainability performance of selected airlines with entropy-based multi-criteria decision-making methods

Authors: Metecan Çakrak; Gültekin Altuntaş

Addresses: Institute of Social Sciences, Program of Transportation and Logistics Management, Istanbul University, Suleymaniye Mh. Besim Omerpasa Cd., Devlet Arsivleri Binasi, A Blok No. 7/1 34116 Fatih, Istanbul, Türkiye ' Faculty of Transportation and Logistics, Department of Logistics, Istanbul University, Central (Beyazit) Campus, 34452 Fatih, Istanbul, Türkiye

Abstract: The aviation industry's significant environmental impact, in contrast to its global importance, necessitates robust sustainability assessments. However, comparative studies using integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) frameworks across all three sustainability dimensions are lacking. This study fills that gap by developing a comprehensive evaluation model to rank ten major airlines. Using the entropy method, 22 economic, social, and environmental criteria are weighted. Five MCDM techniques are applied, with their results aggregated using the COPELAND method for a final ranking, which is validated through sensitivity analysis. Key findings identify available seat kilometres, cargo transported and avoided CO₂ as the most critical success criteria. American Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have emerged as top performers. This integrated framework offers a systematic and replicable tool for benchmarking, facilitating more informed managerial and policy decisions for sustainable aviation.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainability reporting; Global Reporting Initiative; GRI; corporate sustainability performance; airlines; logistics; multi-criteria decision making; MCDM; entropy; range of value; RoV; combined compromise solution; CoCoSo; MOOSRA; MARCOS; additive ratio assessment; ARAS; COPELAND; weighted sum.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCDM.2025.150306

International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making, 2025 Vol.10 No.2, pp.184 - 219

Received: 19 Jul 2024
Accepted: 25 Sep 2025
Published online: 08 Dec 2025 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article