The green light for air transport: sustainable aviation at present

Abstract

In the nearly 120 years of aviation history, the industry and technology have evolved with the world. In the early decades, the focus was on preparing aircraft for passenger transport, and gradually the industry developed different areas such as airports, navigation, in-flight services and air traffic control. The aviation industry has faced quite many challenges in different periods. At the beginning of the JET era, the first very controversial factor, noise pollution, was already apparent. The gas turbines of the time were much less efficient than today’, and although the technology worked, some factors were less considered by developers, such as the noise and environmental impact mentioned above. As we moved into more modern times, the focus shifted more and more to the pollutants emitted by aircraft, which has become one of the most studied factors to date. This research examines the sustainability of aviation, past, present and future, in the light of global warming. It presents technologies that already work in the present, but their possible spread only points to the near or even distant future.