With growing environmental awareness and the resulting pressure on aviation, ecological impact assessments are becoming increasingly important. Life cycle assessment has been widely used in the literature as a tool to assess the environmental impact of aircraft. However, due to the complexity of the method itself and the long lifespans of aircraft, most studies so far have made strong simplifications, especially concerning the operational phase. Using a combined discrete-event simulation framework, this paper aims to ecologically assess the individual life cycle phases of an aircraft. The method will be demonstrated in a case study of an A320 and subsequently compared with findings from the literature. Despite the significant environmental impact of flight operations, which covers almost 99.8% of the entire life cycle of the aircraft, a detailed consideration of all life cycle phases is essential to serve as a reference for the ecological assessment of novel aircraft concepts. The presented assessment method thus enables a holistic analysis at an early stage of the design process and supports the decision-making for new technologies and operational changes.

The electrification of aircraft propulsion systems is currently being intensively investigated to reduce climate-damaging emissions during flight operations. Battery Electric Propulsion Systems (EPSs) are highly complex and require regular maintenance to ensure airworthiness. In particular, the limited lifespan of batteries necessitates frequent replacements, which can lead to significant environmental impact. This paper discusses possible maintenance activities for battery EPSs and their environmental implications. The environmental assessment is based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which considers the impact of individual maintenance tasks over the entire aircraft life cycle. The LCA results show that the environmental impact of maintenance increases significantly with the use of the electrical system compared to conventional propulsion systems. Two different battery scenarios with state-of-the-art and projected energy densities towards the year 2035 show significant potential for improvement. In our analysis, the batteries, which have to be replaced a total of eight times during the evaluated life cycle, account for the largest contribution to the environmental impact. At the same time, battery EPSs offer the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of flight operations, as there are no direct emissions into the atmosphere. The results highlight the need to consider maintenance-related environmental impact alongside operational improvements, providing a foundation for future strategies that minimise the impact while ensuring operational safety and efficiency. Nevertheless, implementing these systems presents significant challenges from a maintenance perspective, particularly in avoiding environmental burden shifting.