Optimal procedure design through high-precision navigation is one of the most effective ways towards sustainable aviation. By re-designing approach procedures, it is possible to reduce the noise exposure on the ground and minimize the amount of population negatively affected by it in the near-airport areas. In this study, an optimal Required Navigation Performance Authorisation Required (RNP AR) approach procedure designed using statistical historical wind data for minimum noise impact is presented. An analytic comparison of the existing and designed RNP AR procedure around Landvetter Airport in Gothenburg (Sweden) is performed in terms of sound exposure level contours, amount of affected population, auralization, and psychoacoustic sound quality metrics. It is demonstrated that, by re-constructing the lateral profile and allowing the aircraft to turn near the runway, a significant reduction of over 1/3 in the number of people initially affected by noise exceeding 70 dB(A) in terms of sound exposure level can be achieved. However, this comes at the expense of shifting the noise contour towards urban areas that were not previously affected. Auralization and perception-based analyses are used to evaluate the perceived annoyance by the people in the near-airport area, and it is shown that a relatively small reduction in overall psychoacoustic annoyance can be achieved by the new procedure.

Aviation is an important contributor to the global economy, satisfying society’s mobility needs. It contributes to climate change through CO₂ and non-CO₂ effects, including contrail-cirrus and ozone formation. There is currently significant interest in policies, regulations and research aiming to reduce aviation’s climate impact. Here we model the effect of these measures on global warming and perform a bottom-up analysis of potential technical improvements, challenging the assumptions of the targets for the sector with a number of scenarios up to 2100. We show that although the emissions targets for aviation are in line with the overall goals of the Paris Agreement, there is a high likelihood that the climate impact of aviation will not meet these goals. Our assessment includes feasible technological advancements and the availability of sustainable aviation fuels. This conclusion is robust for several COVID-19 recovery scenarios, including changes in travel behaviour.