Airports and aviation in general play a crucial role in the transportation network of society. More than 2,500 airports support an annual traffic of 4 billion passengers. However, this number is expected to continue increasing to 8 billion passengers in 2040 according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). At the same time, the climate change phenomenon gained popularity in the society, in which the aviation industry is responsible for 3.5%, and 2% of the CO2 emissions (major contributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions). If no change is made the share of CO2 emissions are estimated to reach 20% by 2050. Specifically in airports, there is a lack of guidance on how to make the airport’s airside more sustainable. Therefore, this study aims to develop a state-of-the-art sustainable rating system for airports airsides to be able to make the aviation industry more environmentally friendly. This is done based on research from the already existing rating systems for buildings and others considering infrastructures. The focus of the one developed in this study is on the environmental pillar of sustainability from an infrastructural point of view. The developed system was named as ‘Airport Rating System’ and it was found to be a technique that can be applied in a systematic way when designing airsides, making the word ‘sustainability’ tangible.

The almost ceaselessly growing Air Transportation System has led to concerns across airports on how to deal with this growth. Also Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AAS) experienced large increases in number of passengers and movements over the last decades: the current limit of 500,000 annual movements of the airport is (nearly) reached. Before stretching the current limit, AAS shall demonstrate that its growth is safely possible. In the past, both Hillestad et al. (1993) and the Dutch Safety Board (2017) investigated the safety at AAS and concluded that, despite vulnerabilities, the airport was safe. This research explores challenges and opportunities towards improving airport taxiway systems. Therefore, a currently lacking definition for taxiway system at systems level is defined first. Besides, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for taxiway systems are defined in order to identify parameters for improving the system based on stakeholders' point of views: safety, capacity, robustness, and environmental impact. Also, methods for assessing taxiway systems on these identified KPIs are defined. Next, AAS is used as a case study to analyze the performance of the taxiway system at the airport on the defined safety KPI. As part of the safety analysis of AAS, for the first time a taxiway system was analyzed on the Sustainable Safety vision as developed for road traffic - and showed to be valuable. Based on the safety analysis, challenges and opportunities within the taxiway system are identified and recommendations provided.