Characteristics and Mitigation Measures of Aircraft Pollutant Emissions at Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG), China

The assessment of local air pollution due to aircraft emissions at/near the airport is an important issue from the standpoint of environment and human health, but has not received due attention in China. In this paper, the pollutant emissions (i.e. HC, CO, NOx, SOx and PM) from aircraft during landing and take-off (LTO) cycles at Nanjing Lukou Airport (NKG) in 2016 were investigated using an improved method, which considered the taxi-in and –out time calculated based on the real data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), instead of using the referenced time recommended by ICAO. First, the pollutant emissions and their characteristics were studied from different perspectives. Second, two various mitigation measures of emissions were proposed, and the performance of emission reduction was analysed. Our analysis shows that: (1) A320 and B738 emitted the largest emissions at NKG; (2) pollutants were mainly emitted during the taxi mode, followed by climb mode; (3) B738 had the lowest emissions per (seat•LTO) among all aircraft, while CRJ had the lowest emissions per unit LTO; (4) shortening the taxiing time and upgrading aircraft engines are both effective measures to mitigate pollutant emissions.