Increased Impact of Aviation on Air Quality and Human Health in China

China's civil aviation market has rapidly expanded, becoming the world's second-largest. However, the air quality and health impacts caused by its aircraft emissions have been inadequately assessed. Here, we leverage an updated emission inventory of air pollutants with improved temporal and spatial resolution based on hundreds of thousands of flight trajectories and simulate aviation-attributable contributions to ground-level air pollution in China. We find that in 2017, the annual-average aviation-attributed PM2.5 and O-3 concentrations were 0.4-1.5 and 10.6-14.5 mu gm(-3), respectively, suggesting that aviation emissions have become an increasingly important source of ambient air pollution. The contributions attributable to high-altitude emissions (climb/cruise/descent) were comparable to those at low altitudes (landing and takeoff). Aviation-attributed ambient PM2.5 and O-3 exposures are estimated to have caused about 67,000 deaths in China in 2017, with populous coastal regions in Eastern China suffering the most due to the dense aviation activity. We recommend that industrial and policy stakeholders expedite an agenda of regulating air pollutants harmonized with decarbonization efforts for a more sustainable aviation future.

Automated summary

China's booming civil aviation market has led to increased aircraft emissions, which have been found to be a significant contributor to air pollution and health issues. This study used flight trajectory data to simulate the impact of aviation emissions on ground-level air pollution in China, and the results show that aviation emissions have become a major source of ambient air pollution, causing health problems in densely populated regions, especially the eastern coastal areas.