Gate Wait for Better Air (1 page pdf, Environmental Health Perspectives, Forum, Jul. 1, 2011)Also discussed here: Demonstration Of Reduced Airport Congestion Through Pushback Rate Control (20 page pdf, I. Simaiakis, H. Khadilkar, H. Balakrishnan,T. G. Reynolds and R. J. Hansman, B. Reilly, S. Urlass, Report No. ICAT-2011-2, MIT International Center for Air Transportation (ICAT), January 2011)
Today’s review article looks at ways to reduce emissions at airports by reducing taxiing times for aircraft preparing to take-off. Statistics indicate that an aircraft may spend as much as 30% of its time between push-off at the gate and landing at the next airport taxiing on runways - and this contributes to the pollution levels found in and and around airports which, more and more, are embedded in the suburban areas of many cities.
Key Quotes:
“in Europe .. estimated that aircraft spend 10-30% of their flight time taxiing, and that a short/medium range A320 expends as much as 5-10% of its fuel on the ground”
“Domestic flights in the United States emit about 6 million metric tones of CO2, 45,000 tonnes of CO, 8,000 tonnes of NOx, and 4,000 tonnes of HC taxiing out for takeoff; almost half of these emissions are at the 20 most congested airports in the country”
“The average taxi-out time at Logan is about 20 minutes. Holding 247 flights at the gate for an average of 4.3 extra minutes reduced taxiing time by an average of 20%, and fuel consumption dropped by 16–20 gallons per plane”
“Hazardous air pollutants measured at or near airports include nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, fine particles, carbonyls, and volatile organic compounds.3,4,5 These pollutants have been generally linked to cancer,6 heart attack,7 and type 1 diabetes”
Related articles
- Debi Wagner on aviation justice (aviationjustice.org)
- Heathrow airport expands Terminal 5 (travelnews.britishairways.com)
- Olympic athletes at risk from London air pollution, artist's film shows (guardian.co.uk)
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