Scholars, policymakers, and airlines have known for decades that aviation must decarbonize to combat climate change. The most obvious short-term solution is to replace fossil fuels with sustainable aviation fuels. Yet little progress has been made because airlines, policymakers, and fuel companies are caught in a deadlock over how to move forward. With the literature largely silent, we interviewed 36 senior executives with influence over the transition and triangulated their opinions against archival data. Our analysis reveals free-riding across sectors, insufficient investment, and a reticence by anyone to lead the charge. We argue that these issues could be overcome through collective leadership rather than a few champion entities willing to invest. Our findings advance collective action theory by uncovering and analyzing “free-riding across sectors”, offering possible strategies that could address the issue by showing how the current deadlock between airlines, policymakers, and fuel companies could be overcome.

数十年来，学者，决策者和航空公司都知道，航空必须脱碳以应对气候变化。最明显的短期解决方案是用可持续的航空燃料替代化石燃料。然而，进展甚微，因为航空公司，决策者和燃油公司在前进的道路上陷入了僵局。在文献基本沉默的情况下，我们采访了对过渡有影响力的36位高级管理人员，并根据档​​案数据对他们的观点进行了三角剖分。我们的分析表明，跨部门搭便车，投资不足以及任何人都不愿领导指控。我们认为，可以通过集体领导来克服这些问题，而不是几个愿意进行投资的拥护实体。