Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA)

What Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA) does

The Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA) is a non-commercial, interdisciplinary research institute headquartered at the ISAE-SUPAERO campus in Toulouse, France, founded in 2022 under the governance of eight Toulouse-based institutions: ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse School of Economics, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, ENAC, Toulouse Business School, Météo-France, CERFACS, and Université Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès. The institute's purpose is to consolidate and interlock research strengths across human/social sciences and exact/engineering sciences in order to address aviation sustainability challenges holistically, with research outputs directed at academic researchers, doctoral and postdoctoral students, policy makers, and aviation industry stakeholders.

ISA's core technical outputs are open-source modeling tools. Its flagship product, AeroMAPS (Aviation Environment Market and Policy Analysis System), is a sector-specific Integrated Assessment Model that integrates engineering, environmental, economic, regulatory, and sociological dimensions to model aviation transition scenarios, including fleet renewal, alternative fuels, energy resource consumption, and transition cost. AeroMAPS evolved from the earlier CAST tool and is complemented by AeroSCOPE, which visualizes the geographical distribution of air traffic and associated emissions. The AeroMAPS code is publicly available via GitHub and the tool runs on a hosted web interface at aeromaps.isae-supaero.fr.

ISA does not sell products or services. Funding is sourced from regional grants (notably a EUR 1.2 million grant from the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region granted in December 2022), member institution contributions, and industry funding agreements, including two funding agreements signed with Airbus in February 2025 and a joint AeroMAPS Chair with Sopra Steria. The institute distributes its work through academic publications, open-source software, research schools, bi-annual workshops, and bi-monthly webinars.

Name

Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA)

Legal name

Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA)

Website

https://isa-toulouse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Institute for Sustainable Aviation (ISA) is a Toulouse-based interdisciplinary research institute founded in 2022, governed by eight local academic and scientific institutions. It develops open-source modeling tools, notably AeroMAPS, to study aviation sustainability for academic researchers, doctoral students, policy makers, and aviation industry partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Aviation Sustainability Research

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Administration of Air and Water Resource and Solid Waste Management Programs (92411)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) & Alternative Fuels (e-fuels, biofuels, hydrogen) (THABANAA)

Keywords

• Sustainable aviation research
• Aviation decarbonization studies
• Integrated assessment modeling
• Interdisciplinary aviation research
• Aviation climate policy

Headquarters

HQ city

Toulouse

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ISA is an interdisciplinary research institute that conducts academic and applied research on aviation sustainability by integrating human and social sciences with engineering and exact sciences. It produces open-source modeling tools (AeroMAPS, CAST, AeroSCOPE) that simulate aviation transition scenarios, fleet renewal, alternative fuels, emissions, and climate impacts, and delivers outputs through publications, workshops, webinars, and a research school.

Product overview

The Institute for Sustainable Aviation operates as an interdisciplinary research institute rather than a commercial product company. Its core research outputs include modeling tools: CAST (Climate and Aviation – Sustainable Trajectories), released in 2021 as an open-access academic tool, which has evolved into AeroMAPS — a sector-specific Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) for aviation. AeroMAPS is open-source, designed to model air transport components, impacts, and interactions across multiple disciplinary fields (engineering, environment, economics, regulation, sociology) using multiple levels of fidelity. A companion tool called AeroSCOPE provides geographical distribution visualization of air traffic and emissions data. These tools are research instruments rather than commercial products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AeroMAPS: An open-access academic tool evolving into AeroMAPS - a sector-specific Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) for aviation that models transition scenarios for the airline industry, enabling holistic assessment of aviation transition scenarios.
• CAST
• AeroSCOPE

Products and services

• AeroMAPS (Aviation Environment Market and Policy Analysis System) A sector-specific Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) for aviation that models different components of air transport, their associated impacts, and their multiple interactions across engineering, environment, economics, regulation, and sociology disciplines. Distributed as open-source code via GitHub for academic researchers and aviation stakeholders.
• CAST (Climate and Aviation – Sustainable Trajectories) Open-access academic tool from ISAE-SUPAERO for simulation and evaluation of climate scenarios for air transport, modeling air traffic, aircraft energy consumption, and energy decarbonization using trend projections from historical data.
• AeroSCOPE Open-source database and visualisation tool that estimates and displays the geographical distribution of air traffic and associated emissions, developed in collaboration with TU Delft researcher Junzi Sun. Part of the AeroMAPS ecosystem.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• AirbusflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 February 2025ISA signed two funding agreements on sustainable aviation research with Airbus on February 20, 2025, formalizing industry collaboration on aviation sustainability research.
• Delft University of TechnologyflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 February 2024Delft University of Technology, faculty of Aerospace Engineering signed a cooperation agreement on sustainable aviation research with ISA and partner institutions including TU Braunschweig and Aeronautics research Centre Niedersachsen.
• Technische Universität BraunschweigflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 February 2024TU Braunschweig signed a cooperation agreement on sustainable aviation research as part of the February 29, 2024 partnership with Delft University, ISAE-SUPAERO, and Aeronautics research Centre Niedersachsen.
• Aeronautics research Centre NiedersachsenflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 February 2024Part of the February 2024 international cooperation agreement on sustainable aviation research involving Delft University, TU Braunschweig, and ISAE-SUPAERO.
• ISAE-SUPAEROcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerISAE-SUPAERO is a key founding member and host institution for ISA. It provides governance oversight and is the primary academic institution for aerospace engineering research within the institute.
• Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTSE is one of the eight founding institutions, contributing economics expertise to ISA's interdisciplinary research on aviation sustainability.
• Université Toulouse 1 Capitole (UT1C)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUT1C is a founding member contributing legal, economics, and regulatory expertise to sustainable aviation research.
• ENAC (École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerENAC is a founding institution providing civil aviation expertise and hosting ISA workshops.
• Toulouse Business School (TBS Education)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTBS Education is a founding institution contributing business and economics perspectives to aviation sustainability research.
• Météo-FrancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMétéo-France is a founding institution contributing meteorological expertise for studying weather and climate impacts on aviation.
• CERFACS (Centre Europeen de Recherche et de Formation Avancée en Calcul Scientifique)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCERFACS is a founding institution providing computational sciences and climate modeling expertise for aviation research.
• Université Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès (UT2J)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUT2J is a founding institution contributing humanities and social sciences expertise to the interdisciplinary research approach.
• Sopra SteriaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSopra Steria and ISAE-SUPAERO launched a joint Chair (AeroMAPS) as a skills sponsorship initiative to develop the aviation Integrated Assessment Model platform.
• Thales AVS and Thales LAScoreTechnology or IntegrationThales AVS and Thales LAS collaborated with ISA on flight efficiency research projects, contributing technology and expertise for horizontal flight efficiency evaluation.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• EUROCONTROL: European intergovernmental air traffic management organization with extensive aviation environmental research and policy advisory functions. Comparable as an aviation sustainability research and advisory body serving European regulators and operators.
• ONERA (Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales): France's national aerospace research lab, also hosted in the Toulouse aerospace cluster. Directly comparable as a public-interest aerospace research organization with sustainability programs, though operating at significantly larger scale and broader mandate than ISA.
• NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate: US federal program funding aviation sustainability, alternative fuels, and climate-impact research. Comparable in aviation sustainability research mission at vastly larger scale and budget than ISA.
• DLR (German Aerospace Center): Germany's national aerospace research center with extensive aviation sustainability, alternative fuels, and climate impact research programs. Comparable in mission (interdisciplinary aviation research) but vastly larger budget and headcount than ISA.
• NLR (Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre): Dutch national aerospace research center running aviation sustainability and emission modelling programs. Directly comparable in mission and EU geographic footprint, with longer operating history and broader industry partnerships than ISA.

Direct peers

• TU Delft - Faculty of Aerospace Engineering: Dutch aerospace faculty that co-developed AeroSCOPE with ISA and signed the February 2024 international cooperation agreement. Comparable as an aviation sustainability research and doctoral training institution, and a direct collaborator rather than competitor.
• Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking: EU public-private partnership funding aviation decarbonization research, co-funded by the European Commission and industry. Closely comparable in consortium-driven sustainable aviation research model, though focused on technology demonstrators rather than socio-economic modelling.
• Cranfield University - Aerospace Centre for Sustainability: UK university with aviation sustainability research and doctoral programs comparable to ISA's PhD pipeline. Both institutions train doctoral cohorts and host industry-linked research on aviation decarbonization.
• Aeronautics Research Centre Niedersachsen (AFN): German aerospace research consortium in Lower Saxony partnered with TU Braunschweig, which signed the February 2024 cooperation agreement with ISA. Comparable as a regional aviation research coalition targeting sustainable aviation.

Emerging players

• Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology (IEE): German applied research institute running energy system and sector coupling modelling relevant to aviation decarbonization. Comparable in integrated assessment and scenario modelling expertise, partially overlapping with AeroMAPS's energy-resource consumption modelling scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/institute-of-sustainable-aviation-isa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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