Simultaneous Improvements in Environmental Performance and Operational Efficiency Enabled by Significantly Quieter Aircraft

espite notable advances in aircraft technology over the years, aviation noise is expected to remain the biggest impediment to the expansion of airport capacity in the next 10 to 20 years. Virtually all major environmental campaigns against airport and/or air traffic expansion have centered on community concerns over noise exposure. A radical manifestation of this resistance took place in Tokyo, Japan, in the 1970s when masked protesters fought pitched battles with security forces to stop the construction of a new airport. However (and fortunately so) most campaigns against airport expansion are waged in town halls and political legislatures, where members of the general public object to, and often block, airport capital improvement programs and airspace redesign projects. For example, at London-Heathrow Airport (LHR), Terminal 5 was built after a 15-year planning hiatus with most of the resistance stemming from community concerns over noise exposure. The projected capacity of LHR with the addition of a third runway is 800,000 air-transport movements per year. However, in order to maintain the same noise exposure for communities around the airport, the UK Department for Transport projects that air traffic may have to be capped at 605,000 movements per year.