Search

Highlights • A new method to deal with the aircraft noise the vicinity of airports is proposed. • The problem is formulated as a resource allocation problem. • Fairness is introduced which requires to develop a new alpha-fairness function. • Optimal solutions and bounds for the Price of Fairness are provided for basic case. • A case study on the Brussels Airport is proposed. Abstract Aircraft noise is recognized as a serious environmental concern and creates significant political problems. This paper presents a new mathematical model to deal with the aircraft noise in the vicinity of airports. The problem to be solved is defined as an assignment of aircraft operations over the routes in order to minimize the total annoyance to citizens at the same time as respecting a fairness scheme. A social-welfare perspective on the noise distribution problem is taken, in contrast to more traditional acoustics-based approaches. Starting from the so-called α -fairness Social Welfare Function (SWF) used for maximization problems, we have defined a new α -fairness function for minimization problems. We show that this function has similar properties to the maximization α -fairness SWF. Analytic results (optimal air traffic assignment, bounds for the Price of Fairness) are provided for the basic case i.e. when routes do not intersect. For more complex cases, when routes cross each others, we show, using a case study (the Brussels Airports case), that modern solvers are able to solve the problem to optimality for realistic scenarios. The model can be used as a decision support tool for a Central Decision Maker (CDM) to allocate flight operations (take-off and landing) over the routes and establish policies in the vicinity of the airport. The paper also provides insights into understanding the relationship between efficiency and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the biggest obstacles to the building of new airports and expanding runway capacity is environmental concerns, especially noise. In this paper, we review what has been previously studied in the literature concerning the noise reduction problem around airports from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) perspective. In order to facilitate the knowledge of the current situation, a regulation summary from the USA and EU is provided. We mainly focus our research on operational procedures, since they are one of the easiest improvements nowadays for reducing the impact of noise around airports. Moreover, the paper sums up the modelling, monitoring and simulation tools related to noise at airports proposed in the literature. Finally, special care is taken to review the optimization tools, the objective of which is to take into account the noise problem in order to help, or propose alternatives, to reduce its impact from airport operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the marginal willingness to pay for changes in noise levels related to changes in the volume of flight movements at a city airport in Stockholm, Sweden, by using a choice experiment. When estimating marginal willingness to pay for different times of the day and days of the week, we find that these vary with the temporal dimensions: mornings and evenings have higher marginal values. Interestingly, a substantial proportion of the respondents prefer no changes in the current noise level. The paper concludes with a policy discussion related to incentive-based pricing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, we examine the effect of various agreements between a socially concerned airport and an environmentally conscious airline regarding their profitability and channel coordination to decarbonize the aviation sector under two distinct settings. First, we consider no government interventions, and second, we explore government-imposed taxation to curb emissions. Our analysis shows that the revenue sharing and linear two-part tariff agreements coordinate the decentralized airport-airline channel. Our findings also reveal that under government interventions, taxation does help improve the greening level of the channel in both coordinating and non-coordinating agreements. However, coordinating agreements can achieve a higher greening level than simply imposing government taxation. Finally, we extended the model to include a duopoly airline market with pricing and greening competition. We analyze the effect of airline competition on airport utility, airline profit, ticket fare, and greening level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is a lack of guidance on the development of noise management actions. • This paper outlines six requirements of such a framework. • Design Thinking is introduced and its key characteristics highlighted. • A series of propositions are made as to how Design Thinking can aid noise managers. • The paper calls for research to extend these claims in case study settings. Designing and implementing noise management actions is complex, with research showing that airports tend to develop such actions in an inconsistent manner, rather than through robust processes based on a rich evidence base, and that aim to deliver targeted outcomes, through evaluable interventions. This article presents some key airport noise management challenges, and proposes that a framework to guide noise managers in the development of management actions may enhance their capacity to respond to noise management challenges. The paper presents the concept of Design Thinking, a popular user-centric and iterative problem-solving approach. We argue that Design Thinking can play a key role in guiding noise managers through a series of propositions that lay the ground for future research to provide airports with the best possible guidance with which to develop – and implement – effective noise management actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aviation is a fast growing sector with increasing environmental concerns linked to aircraft emissions at airports and noise nuisance. This paper investigates the factors affecting the annual environmental effects produced by a national aviation system. The environmental effects are computed using certification data for each aircraft-engine combination. Moreover, we also take into account for the amount of environmental effects that is internalized at the airport, mainly through noise regulation. We study a dataset covering information on Italian airports during the period 1999–2008. We show that a 1% increase in airport’s yearly movements yields a 1.05% increase in environmental effects, a 1% in aircraft size (measured in MTOW) gives rise to a 1.8% increase and a 1% increase in aircraft age generates a 0.69% increase in environmental effects. Similar results but with smaller magnitudes are observed if airport internalization is considered. Our policy implications are that the tariff internalizing the total amount of externality is about euro 180 per flight, while the tariff limiting only pollution is about euro 60 and the one reducing noise is about euro 110. Moreover, our airport examples show that managers should prefer to address additional capacity by increasing frequency rather than aircraft size, since the former strategy is more environmental friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the contribution of slot allocation to noise abatement at schedule coordinated airports. To this end, we first build a single-airport bi-objective model that incorporates scheduling efficiency and noise reduction. We then find and analyze a solution that maximizes airport noise reduction with the greatest allocation efficiency. The price of noise reduction is proposed to gain the trade-off between efficiency and environmental benefits. Our research shows that slot scheduling can reduce noise at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. The maximum noise reduction schedule shows high fluctuation in the temporal distribution of slots. The price of noise reduction is very high under the maximum noise reduction schedule, and the required displacement to reduce one unit of noise increases sharply as the noise reduction value rises. Besides, the airport capacity expansion plays an essential role in reducing the price of noise abatement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Climate impact analysis of air transport from Germany. • Scenario dependent forecast of passenger flights from Germany. • Scenario dependent forecast of specific emissions by traffic regions. • Focus on both CO 2 and NO x emissions. • Forecast of climate impact effects for three scenarios up to the year 2100. Transport is considered to be a major contributor to emissions, resulting in a deterioration of local air quality and contributing to global climate change. The present paper focuses on how passenger flights departing from German airports contribute to global climate change. We describe in detail, how traffic forecasts for three scenarios entitled Reference, Free Play and Regulated Shift have been developed and how the resultant emissions have been quantified. Subsequently, we applied a climate model, providing insights into the very long-term climate effects under different assumptions on emissions up to the year 2100. The modelling framework shows that the development of emissions results from complex interactions of demand development and supply decisions, which highly influence the climate impact. With this paper, we show that an integrated, multi-disciplinary analysis can create valuable indicators and advice for transport policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The air transport industry is showing rapid growth in line with the call for meeting the requirements of a rising population. Noise mapping is more useful than surveys and measurements to estimate the effects of noise on public health. In this paper, noise levels for the day, evening and night time slices around İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport were calculated by use of the SoundPLAN 7.2 software according to the European Noise Directive, and the “ECAC Doc. 29-Interim” method was applied for the computation of the aircraft noise. Air traffic data of year 2012, technical information about the airport and geographical data including the layers of elevation, residential buildings, auxiliary buildings, hospitals and schools were used as the main inputs for the model developed in the study. The model was found to perform well for the areas closer to the airport. The results of the study suggested that the area at the north side of the airport, where the city center of İzmir is located, is more affected than other areas. The threshold value of 55 dB(A) was found to be exceeded in 0.3% of the land area covered by İzmir City center during the time slice “day”. The results showed that about 2% of the resident population was exposed to noise levels of 55 dB(A) or higher during day-time in İzmir. In addition, it was understood that the number of people who are potentially exposed to high noise levels and threatened by several illness such as hypertension and sleep disturbances is significant in the surrounding area of the airport. It is thought to be important for airport operators to manage the airport capacity based on the flight schedules in order to control the noise exposure level around the airport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This papers attempts to quantify the equity effect of a hypothesized economic instrument, a carbon charge on car commuters, for reducing carbon dioxide emissions produced by commuters on airport surface access. Manchester Airport is taken as a case study using staff Survey data from 2008 and 2010. Consumer welfare change is analysed for measuring the equity effects of carbon charge by user group, which considers the changes of travel mode choice, the carbon dioxide emissions reduction, the revenue from a carbon charge and how it is distributed. First, the individual carbon footprint in terms of gram passenger kilometre, and the damage cost of carbon by commuters on airport surface access are estimated. Next, the impact of carbon charge on travel behaviour is investigated by the nested logit model. Finally, the net effect of carbon charges is assessed by travel mode user, gender, job type, and age group. The results show some impacts of the carbon charge on car users and carbon reduction, and the positive effects on lower income group and less carbon commuters. The quantified results provide the evidences for the mitigation policies to combine monetary incentives with disincentives for travel behaviour change, and demonstrate the different equity effects among commuter groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an important upgrade of a modelling tool devised by the authors for estimating aircraft noise around civil airports, which is based on a best-practice noise computation method and flight tracking data collected from the Internet and complemented by datasets of aircraft models, runways, and terrain elevation. Targeting more accurate noise predictions, the upgraded model introduces reasoned degrees of freedom in the standard flight procedures, and the tracked altitudes and speeds of each flight event are used to fit these modified procedures, which leads to an original mixed analysis-synthesis approach. Additional improvements include better runway assignment and consideration of actual weather conditions. Comparison of July 2019 results with official data for Heathrow, Gatwick and Schiphol airports shows an improved noise prediction, with an average underestimation lowered to 1.5 dB(A) for exposure-based metrics. Therefore, this upgraded modelling tool can be a reliable support to civil aviation authorities and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Elaborate all the indicators influencing airport climate resilience. • Develop a climate resilience evaluation method using evidential reasoning. • Use big data to quantify the airport climate resilience. • Conduct an empirical study to analyse the climate resilience of the UK airports. Due to increased extreme weather events, climate adaptation has become an essential issue to be addressed by all transport infrastructures, including airports. This paper aims to develop a Climate Resilience Indicator (CRI) framework for assessing airport climate resilience, which for the first time, considers: climate exposure, vulnerability and adaptive capacity simultaneously and advances the development of climate risk analysis of airports to a point where their adaptation and resilience can be quantified under uncertainty in data. Climate-related data was collected from multiple sources to evaluate an airport's performance against each indicator. An evidential reasoning (ER) approach is used to evaluate each airport by integrating all the indicators to derive its final CRI score. The findings provide valuable insights into how urgently an airport needs to deal with climate change and reveal information to help with resource allocation for different airports nationally through proactive adaptation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper considers the environmental effects of air traffic management speed constraints during the departure phase of flight. We present a CO2 versus noise trade-off study that compares aircraft departure procedures subject to speed constraints with a free speed scenario. A departure route at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport in Sweden is used as a case study and the analysis is based on airline flight recorded data extracted from the Airbus A321 aircraft. Results suggest that CO2 emissions could be reduced by 180kg per flight if all departure speed constraints were removed at a cost of increased noise exposure below 70dB(A). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The optimization of aircraft noise abatement procedures involves several conflicting factors, including location specific noise sensitivity and aircraft operating costs. This paper presents a multi-objective optimization strategy that employs goal, lexicographic-egalitarian and hierarchical optimization techniques. The presented methodology aims at better assessing the design of site-specific noise abatement procedures that take into account the actual populated areas, their type and distribution, the hour of the day where the trajectory is supposed to be flown and the aircraft type. An illustrative example is given with the design of the East departures at Girona airport, Catalonia. Results point out how the noise annoyance impact of current operational procedures can be significantly reduced by the optimized trajectories and show, as well, an important dependency on the type of aircraft and the hour of the day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a trade-off study that has been conducted using a recently developed tool for the analysis and design of noise abatement procedures around airports. This new tool, NOISHHH, combines a noise model, a geographic information system, and a dynamic trajectory optimization algorithm. NOISHHH features a multi-objective optimization capability that permits exploration of a variety of environmental criteria, including indices that are generic in nature (e.g. noise footprints) as well as site-specific criteria that take into account the population distribution in the areas surrounding the airport. Using this capability a noise performance trade-off was conducted by comparing arrival trajectories that are optimized according to a variety of noise abatement criteria, including both generic and site-specific criteria. The main focus is on providing insight into the sensitivities in the multi-objective noise performance trade-off process. The results are used to illustrate the possibility of synthesizing trajectories that provide a sensible compromise solution among the various noise criteria. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We study what drives ports to adopt air emissions abatement measures. • We disentangle the impacts of port characteristics on abatement measure adoption. • Population density, port business model, and container specialization drive adoption. • Ports tend to adopt bundles of measures, combining pricing and other energy sources. • Coordinated abatement efforts among ports increase their effectiveness. The reduction of Greenhouses gasses (GHG) and other air emissions represents a major challenge for ports. The world over, however, ports vary considerably in their efforts to reduce air emissions, and the causes for this variation remain under-researched. This paper examines the drivers for the adoption of air emissions abatement measures in a sample of 93 of the world's largest ports, covering all continents and mobile emitters. We test five hypotheses with a Linear Probability Model to disentangle the impacts of key port characteristics on the current adoption of abatement measures and identify three key drivers for adoption: Population density, the port landlord business model, and a specialization in servicing container shipping. We also find that ports are more likely to implement specific bundles of measures, in particular combining pricing and new energy sources. Our work has implications for ports, as we suggest that they should coordinate abatement efforts to achieve effectiveness in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines the adoption of environmental practices (EPs) by small European airports handling under 5 m passengers a year. • TOE framework is used as the basis for an online survey of over 400 airports. • Airports are classified into 3 groups according to their level of EP engagement. • Relative size of small airports as well as other variables affects the extent of EP adoption. • Scope for greater EP adoption exists and recommendations for policy and practice are offered. The majority of the world's 3759 commercial airports handle under 5 million passengers a year and these small airports rarely employ practices to address their environmental externalities. The aim of this research is to investigate the range of environmental practices (EPs) that are employed at small European airports and identify the factors which affect their adoption. The findings of an online survey of 413 small airports in the European Common Aviation Area reveal that the EPs most commonly adopted concern waste management and noise reduction. Privately owned airports were generally more engaged with EPs than publicly owned ones. Consumer pressure, regulatory intervention, and airport size positively affected the adoption of environmental practices whereas complexity, perceived relative advantage and human resource constraints acted as barriers to adoption. The paper concludes with recommendations for policy and practice to support EP engagement and reduce the environmental impact of small airport operations worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Performance of airports relates to underlying patterns of economic development, airport size and aircraft used. • Airports have a high reduction potential of CO 2 emission, without a loss of economic performance. • Airport size, location, and linkage to the local economy are closely related to aircraft CO 2 emissions. • Different stakeholders have different impacts on adding to sustainable development. This paper analyzes aircraft CO 2 emissions (in both quantity and intensity per passenger) during landing and take-off cycles at nine different airports in Jiangsu province (China) over a ten-year time span (2007–2016). Our database is unique and very detailed in that we combine flight schedules, with aircraft type (engines) used, and landing-and-take-off cycles. We are particularly interested in how the spatial characteristics impact emission levels. To this end we estimate a CO 2 emission model taking the airport characteristics into account, and apply a spatial classification and autocorrelation model to distinguish between different types of airports and systems. Our analysis shows that: (1) there are strong spatial distribution differences between airports due to the patterns of economic development, airport size and aircraft used; (2) most airports have a high reduction potential of CO 2 emission, without a loss of economic performance; (3) significant spatial aggregation effects exist and are persistent during most observational years, which indicates a strong Matthew effect of CO 2 emission within Jiangsu province; and (4) airport size, linkage to the local economy, and airport location are closely related to aircraft CO 2 emissions. We also provide a number of recommendations to improve airport CO 2 emissions and add to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new formulation to measure the resilience performance of airports under severe weather events was developed. • A big data based on actual air performance was adopted for the empirical analysis. • Modal substitution to HSR service is found to be an important tactic of airport resilience. The increased severe weather events in recent years as a result of global climate change has created a substantial challenge for aviation system operation. Although transportation engineers and planners have attempted to improve system resilience through the adaptation of new technologies and the implementation of various strategies to achieve effective risk management, it remains unclear how resilience performance (measured by the speed of recovery) of airports varies in different severe weather events and what factors may explain such variations. This paper addresses these fundamental questions using the aviation system in China as an example. A resilience metric, which reflects the speed of recovery (bounce back) from a shock, was developed to measure the performance of airport resilience under various severe weather conditions. In addition, an empirical econometric analysis was conducted based on a dataset that includes both detailed aviation performance and weather conditions for the period of October 2016 – September 2017. The research findings show that airport resilience to severe weather events does vary substantially based on factors, such as weather conditions, airport capacity, and the level of modal substitution. In particular, the recovery time of air services in central and south China tends to be relatively longer in thunderstorms than other weather conditions. The study also confirms that modal substitution is a very effective resilience tactic of the transportation system as the recovery speed of air service was found to be faster by 22.9% if an alternative mode, such as high-speed rail (HSR) service was also available in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper reviewed NEPA process documentation for 19 hub airport expansion projects. • Proposes new metrics as a counter-narrative to evaluate tradeoffs: "Risk of Disproportionate Impact" and "Capacity Strain". • Inconsistent methodological choices impeded detection of environmental justice impacts in the NEPA process. • 'Project area' comparison geography masked disproportionate impacts in the NEPA process. • Narrative interpretations tended to 'null' the finding even when environmental justice impacts were detected. Municipal airport owners and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regularly evaluate capacity and demand to decide if and when airports need more infrastructure. New infrastructure can alter the profile of noise, emissions, and land use, which may affect the quality of life for airport-adjacent communities. When the FAA and airport owners initiate infrastructure expansion, they must conduct environmental justice analysis to measure the distribution of negative externalities on nearby communities. This research investigates the environmental justice methodologies and narratives reported in planning documents for nineteen airport capacity expansions planned or deployed from 2000 to 2010 in the United States. The mixed-methods approach analyzes airport operations data, spatial demographic data, and planning artifacts to determine whether the environmental justice analyses were robust. This research proposes alternative metrics, the 'Risk of disproportionate impact' and 'Capacity strain', to further contextualize the presence of protected population groups alongside capacity needs. The main finding of the study is that the planning documents did not consistently detect environmental justice impacts, nor did they consistently confer importance to those impacts when high proportions of protected populations were detected. As a result, the social costs of collective airport expansion are unclear and likely underestimated. This study identifies two limitations that undermined the environmental justice analysis throughout the airport sample: (1) inconsistent methodological choices impeded the detection of impacts and, (2) narrative interpretations tended to 'null' the finding even when impacts were detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]