Carbon Footprint in Aviation: Airport Ground Handling Report Analysis

This report delves into the carbon emissions generated by airport and ground handling operations within the aviation industry. It highlights the industry's significant contribution to global carbon emissions, emphasizing the role of fossil fuels in various ground activities. The report identifies key sources of emissions, including patrolling cars, engine security checks, and engine start times, while also acknowledging managerial changes aimed at reducing environmental impact, such as engine-start time management. It then proposes actionable steps like adopting electrical tugs and buses to further decrease carbon emissions. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of these solutions in mitigating the aviation industry's environmental impact, offering a pathway towards a more sustainable approach in airport operations. The report is well-referenced with relevant research papers supporting its claims.

AIRPORTS &
GROUND
HANDLING
SECTION

TABLE OF CONTENT
 Introduction
 The main source of carbon emission
 What has been achieved
 What is the next step
 Conclusion
 References

INTRODUCTION
The aviation industry is among one of the rapidly growing industries
around the world. As much as the industry is appreciated for making the
world more connected; it also acquires top spot in the list of carbon.
Carbon footprints refers to the amount of carbon released in the
environment while using a means that uses fossil fuels as a source of
energy.

THE MAIN SOURCE OF CARBON
EMISSION
The Ground staff department is responsible for the working of the aviation
industry as it maintains the working of every activity that takes place while
the aircraft is still in ground it includes various activities like, safety and
security of the passengers along with keeping a check on the comfort of
the customers.

CONTINUE…
The aviation industry cause 2% of carbon emission around the world
and this number goes up to 24% if the emission from the energy
sources only. For the concerns of the environment a theory of Carbon
Footprints is famous the environment activists and the customers of
aviation industry have the top spot in the this list as well. Following is
key contributors of carbon emission from ground department,

CONTINUE…
 Patrolling cars: For the security of airport the ground handling staff
maintains the security department which in turns have patrolling cars.
These cars have to patrol after every flight in order to keep the runway
safe. In the process these cars emits a lot of fuel in the environment
and the calculation of such cars on a yearly basis is significant
contributor.

CONTINUE…
 Engine security checks: Between the arrival of every flight and
before its departure there are several hours of security check that an
aircraft goes through. This causes additional consumption of fuel
and hence carbon emission follows.

WHAT HAS BEEN ALREADY ACHIEVED
With all time high environmental concerns there are few managerial
changes that the ground handling department have worked upon in
order to decrease the carbon emission. Following are the
management achievement of the ground handling department,
 Engine-start time: The aviation industry very well acknowledges
that carbon emission and hence managed the running engine time
on ground

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS IN ORDER TO
The carbon emission is among the major concerns of the developing
world as it is directly adding to the risk associated with the global
warming and melting of glaciers. There for it is necessary to take
every step possible towards the reduction on carbon emission.
Following is a brief on some of the steps that airport and ground
department must consider.

CONTINUE…
 Electrical Tugs and Buses : In the present world the technology
is not advance enough to use the electrical power source for the
aircraft's but the technology has found its electrical way for the
land vehicle thus it is an urgent need for the airports to use
electrical substitutes of bus facilities and tugs as well. The engines
of these vehicle use a lot of fossil fuels and that adds up to a huge
amount.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded form the report that airport and ground handling
department of the aviation industry contributes to the carbon
emission through its operational procedure. Although it is not the
prime contributor of carbon emission in aviation industry but it's
negative addition of carbon in cannot be ignored. The discussed
solution in the report could very effectively reduce the carbon
emission thus making the industry less harmful towards the
environment.

REFERENCES
 Fink and et. al., 2019. Column generation for vehicle routing
problems with multiple synchronization constraints. European
Journal of Operational Research. 272 (2) . pp.699-711.
 Kovynyov, I. and Mikut, R., 2018. Digital transformation in
airport Ground operations. arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.09142.
 Kovynyov, I. and Mikut, R., 2019. Digital technologies in
airport ground operations. NETNOMICS: Economic Research
and Electronic Networking. 20 (1). pp.1-30.
 Malandri, and et. al., 2020. Impacts of unplanned aircraft
diversions on airport ground operations. Transportation
Research Procedia. 47 . pp.537-544.
 Skorupski, and et. al. 2020. Assessing the suitability of airport
ground handling agents. Journal of Air Transport
Management. 83 .p.101763.