At Dublin aviation meeting, sustainability takes a backseat to jet shortages

Bottlenecks and parts shortages have forced airlines to keep older jets flying for longer

Bottlenecks and parts shortages have forced airlines to keep older jets flying for longer, even as targets for sustainable aviation fuel in the European Union come into force.

A major annual air finance gathering largely skirted round the topic of sustainability this week — a rare departure from the industry's usual tight messaging on curbing emissions that left some delegates concerned about the impact of "ESG fatigue".

In contrast with the attention devoted to climate topics at earlier events, this year's Airline Economics conference was overshadowed instead by the scramble facing airlines just to keep their jets flying as they deal with parts shortages.