Products contribute to global sustainability problems throughout their entire life cycles. The majority of opportunities to influence the sustainability performance of products come when the product is designed – far before it is created or put into use. Within the aeronautics industry, there are specific targets set out by the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) with one of the high-level targets being an “ultra green air transport system.” At Volvo Aero, a leading manufacturer of aero engine components, this has turned into concrete design targets like light weight, noise/emission reduction and high reliability. Volvo Aero has been used as a case in this research survey to identify some challenges and opportunities of implementing a sustainability perspective in the product innovation process in the aero industry. The overall purpose of this paper is, then, to discuss these challenges and the associated opportunities to include such a sustainability perspective to reach a sustainability-driven product innovation process.