Air transportation and the environment

This special issue of air transportation and the environment brings together analyses carried out by the integrated aviation modeling teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge over the past 5-8 years. All contributions directly or indirectly relate to the challenges of measuring and/or responding to the environmental impact of air transportation in terms of noise, air pollution, and climate change. The contributors to this special issue identify several promising mitigation opportunities. However, in light of an anticipated continued growth in global aviation demand in the order of 5-6% per year, the identified opportunities are likely to only mitigate the growth in environmental impacts, at least over the next 20-30 years. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.