University of Salford

The first UK MSc in sustainable air transport

MSc Sustainable Air Transport Operations and Planning is the first postgraduate air transport programme in the UK (and to our best knowledge in the world) fully focused on all three sustainability pillars and linked with the UN SDGs. The programme has become the second air transport postgraduate programme in the UK approved by the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Created solely by one member of staff, the programme had its first student intake in 2021, one year before the Civil Aviation Authority published its Environmental Sustainability Strategy (2022) and became an example for other universities which followed with programmes in sustainable aviation. The programme has two modules shared with other programmes at the University of Salford School of Science, Engineering and Environment.

Also, one of the modules is selected by students from the list of available online modules delivered by the biggest aeronautical university in the US and in the world, Embry-Riddle.

Top 3 Learnings

1. It is possible to complete an ambitious project with extremely limited resources.
2. Benefits of interdisciplinarity and shared modules / partner delivery need to be explored.
3. Staying up to date and even ahead of industry developments is of vital importance.