Aviation Focused Sustainability Analysis in EU Countries with CRITIC Based MABAC Method

The objective of this study is to assess the environmental and economic sustainability of the European Union (EU) countries that have the highest air transportation density. In this particular case, the CRITIC-based MABAC approach is used as the analysis methodology. The study is conducted using the following criteria: total number of commercial passenger flights, total number of cargo and mail flights, percentage share of R&D expenditures in the state budget, innovation index, urbanization rate, gross domestic product, recycling amount per capita, and amount of carbon dioxide emissions from air transport measured in tons. CRITIC method is used to assign weights to the criteria, and it is found that the level of air transportation emissions (CO2) significantly influences the environmental and economic sustainability of countries. On the other hand, the least important criteria is the percentage of R&D expenditures in the state budget. Using the MABAC method, the ranking analysis revealed Sweden, Denmark, and Norway as the top three countries in terms of environmental and economic sustainability during the five years period from 2018 to 2022. In contrast, it is found that France, Ireland, and Germany are the bottom three countries in this regard.