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The allure for businesses to jettison short-term costly processes, regulatory demands and green business practices (GBPs) in the turbulent times of COVID-19 remains sky high. Although GBPs and eco-friendly policies deliver results in the long term in terms of market competitiveness (MC), in many industries firms have sought to jettison well-rooted practices in the face of the existential threats stemming from COVID-19. In this paper, we examine the new contemporary challenges of adopting and implementing environmental sustainability policies in the global airline industry in the wake of COVID-19. The analysis sheds light on firms' level sustainability initiatives such as upgrading to environmentally friendly aircraft and offsetting emission footprint, and institutional initiatives such as the European Union Emissions Trading System and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for Aviation. Our analysis demonstrates that some airlines and industrial bodies sought to sidestep environmentally friendly commitments and practices to overcome new challenges such as cost pressures, survival threat and deprioritising environmental sustainability initiatives. We establish and examine the implications of the analysis. • Environmental sustainability in the wake of COVID-19 examined. • Challenges in implementing environmental sustainability policies. • Links between COVID-19 and sustainability analysed. • Importance of collaborative action in the global airline industry explicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]