Academic Editor: Adriana Del Borghi Received: 5 February 2025 Revised: 3 April 2025 Accepted: 4 April 2025 Published: 8 April 2025 Citation: Anagnostopoulou, A.; Sotiropoulos, D.; Tserpes, K. A Robust Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Aircraft Parts: Application to a Fuselage Panel. Sustainability 2025, 17, 3299. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su17083299 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). Article A Robust Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Aircraft Parts: Application to a Fuselage Panel Aikaterini Anagnostopoulou 1 , Dimitris Sotiropoulos 2 and Konstantinos Tserpes 1, * 1 Laboratory of Technology & Strength of Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics, University of Patras, 26500 Patras, Greece; aikat.anagnostopoulou@ac.upatras.gr 2 Department of Electrical and Computers Engineering, University of Peloponnese, 26334 Patras, Greece; dg.sotiropoulos@uop.gr * Correspondence: kitserpes@upatras.gr Abstract: This paper presents a cradle-to-gate sustainability assessment methodology specifically designed to evaluate aircraft components in a robust and systematic manner. This methodology integrates multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) analysis across ten criteria, categorized under environmental impact, cost, and performance. Environmental impact is analyzed through lifecycle assessment and cost through lifecycle costing, with both analyses facilitated by SimaPro 9.6.0.1 software. Performance is measured in terms of component mass and specific stiffness. The robustness of this methodology is tested through various MCDM techniques, normalization approaches, and objective weighting methods. To demonstrate the methodology, this paper assesses the sustainability of a fuselage panel, comparing nine variants that differ in materials, joining techniques, and part thicknesses. All approaches consistently identify thermoplastic CFRP panels as the most sustainable option, with the geometric mean aggregation of weights providing bal- anced criteria consideration across environmental, cost, and performance aspects. The adaptability of this proposed methodology is illustrated, showing its applicability to any aircraft component with the requisite data. This structured approach offers critical insights to support sustainable decision-making in aircraft component design and procurement. Keywords: sustainability assessment; lifecycle analysis (LCA); multi-criteria decision-making methods; aircraft fuselage; R-TOPSIS 1. Introduction Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation have risen significantly over the past three decades. Although aviation, along with shipping, accounts for about 4% of the European Union’s total emissions, it remains the fastest-growing source of emissions. The primary driver behind this increase is the growth in air traffic. Efforts to reduce emissions in the aviation sector have only recently gained traction on a global scale. The EU aims to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To meet these targets, the EU is currently implementing several strategies, including the inclusion of aviation in the emissions trading scheme, a revision of this scheme for aviation, and proposals for more sustainable fuels and aircraft technologies [1]. In the field of aviation, relevant research is coordinated by the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, established with the primary mission of developing disruptive aircraft technologies to support the European Green Deal and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. One of the main technologies emphasized by Clean Aviation is “Green manufacturing and assembly, end-to-end and eco-design”. According to Sustainability 2025, 17, 3299 https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083299