Achieving international climate goals requires evidence-based decisions on emerging aircraft technologies, operations and regulatory instruments. This demands robust pre-implementation assessments to quantify environmental benefits and anticipate the operational impacts of integrating next-generation fleets with new performance characteristics and infrastructure needs. However, current scientific knowledge is insufficient, with major gaps in modelling evolutionary and revolutionary (E/R) aircraft performance, emissions and environmental effects, as well as system-level analysis of mixed-fleet operations.

ZENITIA’s will develop high-fidelity models to estimate dynamic performance, emissions, and environmental impacts (CO₂, non-CO₂, air quality) of E/R aircraft; and optimisation frameworks for planning safe, efficient, and environmentally aligned gate-to-gate operations of mixed fleets. An artificial intelligence-driven decision-support platform translates these insights into operational, regulatory and policy guidance, supporting the seamless integration of next-generation aircraft and Europe’s transition towards climate-neutral aviation.