Now is the time to invest in sustainability – here’s why it matters more in volatile markets

Now is the time for airlines to invest in sustainability. Not because conditions are stable, but because volatility makes cost and compliance harder to manage without it.

When fuel prices surged across global markets in recent weeks, many airline leaders asked the same question:

Is this really the moment to keep investing in sustainability?

With unpredictable supply chains, shifting routes, and daily operational pressures, the hesitation makes sense. In volatile periods, attention shifts to continuity and cost control. Sustainability can start to feel like something to postpone.

To understand what this moment actually means for airlines, we sat down with Ashraf “Ashi” Hoseini, our Environmental Strategy Lead. She brings years of airline operational experience across fuel, cost, and compliance. Today she helps airlines navigate evolving environmental requirements with the same practical mindset she developed on the operational side. She sees volatility as part of the operating environment, not an exception.

We asked her directly: “Is now the right time to invest in sustainability?”

Ashi didn’t hesitate.

“Safety is always first in aviation. But in times of crisis, the next priority is understanding cost impact, because it determines how long operations can be sustained and how effectively recovery can be achieved.”

Sustainability has moved from an initiative to a requirement

Sustainability is no longer something airlines engage with only when the market is calm. It has become part of everyday operations.

Ashi puts it plainly. Regulations in Europe - and increasingly in other markets - are not temporary. They’re becoming part of the baseline airlines must plan around, regardless of what is happening externally. Some authorities may offer short deadline extensions or local adjustments during a crisis, but these are operational accommodations, not changes to the underlying rules. The obligations remain.

“Compliance doesn’t pause,” Ashi says. “Even if timelines shift slightly, the requirements themselves keep moving forward.”

This is why the decision point has changed.

The real question is not whether sustainability applies, but whether an airline understands what compliance will demand, what it will cost, and how those costs may change under pressure.

Fuel volatility has made the cost question more urgent

Recent disruption in the Middle East added new volatility into fuel markets. Jet fuel prices moved quickly. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) prices followed. Different fuels, yes, but they operate in the same market environment.

Ashi explains it:

“SAF and jet fuel aren’t the same molecules, but they share the same world. Once blended, they move through the same infrastructure, rely on the same certification systems, and are exposed to the same global vulnerabilities.”

This moment matters for one reason: volatility increases the cost of getting sustainability planning wrong. Obligations continue even when costs become harder to predict.

Airlines don’t struggle with regulation, they struggle with uncertainty

Most airlines can work within regulatory frameworks. The challenge is planning when multiple variables move at once: shifting fuel markets, expanding sustainability requirements, and ongoing commercial pressure.

Ashi’s perspective is straightforward: airlines need a clearer view of how sustainability costs behave when conditions change. They need to understand how their obligations evolve over time, how fuel volatility alters cost exposure, and where they still have room to make choices.

“Airlines can handle regulations,” she says. “What’s hard is planning when the variables keep moving.”

That’s where visibility and clarity matters. Without it, volatility becomes unmanaged cost and compliance risk.

The pattern is familiar, even if the trigger is different

Ashi draws on a pattern aviation knows well. The first shock in any disruption rarely tells the full story. The longer effects - supply strain, procurement pressure, delayed recovery - often unfold gradually.

Her point is not that every crisis resembles the last. It’s that airlines have learned the cost of waiting for stability that may never arrive.

This patter typically follows three stages:

• Stage 1: Immediate disruption - fuel price spikes, rerouting, airspace restrictions or grounded operations.
• Stage 2: Operational strain - reduced utilization, forced workarounds like tankering, schedule changes and rising day‑to‑day costs.
• Stage 3: Recovery impact - sustained financial pressure as operations take time to normalize and profitability lags behind.

By the time those consequences become fully visible, the window to prepare can be much smaller.

Delays don’t reduce obligations. They reduce an airline’s ability to plan for them - and to recover when the long tail sets in.

Teams are already under pressure

This matters even more because sustainability is not happening in isolation. Operations teams are managing rerouting. Finance teams are recalibrating. Commercial teams are adapting to shifting demand. And sustainability teams are keeping up with requirements that continue to evolve - sometimes with local extensions, adjusted timelines or temporary exceptions.

Ashi sees this firsthand. Airlines affected by the current disruption have had no option but to tanker fuel, even when it conflicts with their sustainability expectations. The operational need is clear. The challenge is proving why a deviation was necessary and documenting it while teams are already stretched.

“In a crisis, you still need to show what happened and why,” Ashi said. “Doing that manually takes time airlines don’t have.”

That’s where visibility becomes essential. When an airline can see its obligations clearly and track exceptions and justifications automatically, it avoids the scramble of digging through data in the middle of a crisis. It’s not only about staying compliant - it’s about reducing unnecessary workload at the worst possible moment.

As Ashi puts it:

“When the world becomes unstable, airlines need their people focused on safety, routes, and passengers - not on manual sustainability admin.”

Visibility isn’t just about meeting requirements. It’s about reducing avoidable strain when capacity is already stretched.

So, is now the right time to invest?

Yes.

Not because the market is stable or because sustainability outweighs cost - both matter.

The reason is simpler:

• Sustainability is part of compliance.
• Compliance continues in volatile periods.
• Compliance carries cost.
• And when costs move, airlines need clarity.

This is the right moment to invest because the operating environment is more demanding. Airlines need a firm grasp on what their obligations require, what they will cost, and how those costs behave under pressure.

Ashi’s conclusion is as straightforward as her opening:

“Airlines can’t control volatility. They can control how prepared they are to manage it.”

And that’s the case for acting now.
Delay doesn’t remove risk - it removes visibility.