Sustainability – Sustainable Aviation Fuels and Low Noise Arrivals

The benchmarks of IAG’s Flightpath Net Zero – in what way can airports contribute key stakeholders to ensure we collectively meet our global climate goals?

As early as 1978, studies have identified best practice measures to reduce arrival noise by keeping aircraft higher for longer during their approach. Continuous Descent Operations (CDO) is the primary method of reducing noise experienced on the ground beneath arriving aircraft, and today, compliance rates are very high. This means that there is no longer an incentive to further reduce noise from arriving aircraft. In 2018, a national cross-industry project in the UK was established to develop a new Low Noise Arrivals Metric, designed to complement the current CDO definition and further incentivise quieter arrivals. This metric provides an additional performance target for airports and is the focus of this presentation.