Sustainable Performances of Small to Medium-Sized Airports in the Adriatic Region

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to evaluate the greenhouse gas savings and economic benefits associated with sustainable water and energy management at six small-to-medium airports in the Adriatic region. All the data were provided by the airport authorities in terms of the consumption of water, electricity, and energy for heating and company-operated vehicles for three years (2016–2018), as well as information about good practices and the sustainable use of water and energy resources. For the water and energy benchmarks, the most plausible predictive variables were selected according to the literature relevant to the environmental benchmarking of airports. The stepwise linear regression method was used to select the most significant predictive variables in explaining the dataset. The airports showed positive steps towards sustainability, such as a higher share of natural gas in the mix of fuel used for heating, and a green electricity tariff. The CO2 emissions and budget related to motor fuels were less than a quarter of the emissions and budget for energy consumption for heating and electricity. To achieve the goal of zero-emission airports, the decarbonisation of motor fuels and transport should follow the actions aimed at increasing energy efficiency and clean energy for heating and electricity.

Sustainability in the Airports Ecosystem: A Literature Review

“…On the other hand, others suggest that risk knowledge has a direct influence on air travel behaviour, with an indirect influence via risk perception [23], e.g., the current drivers of demand for long-distance passenger travel in Europe and its environmental impact, while long-haul air travel is increasing at an unacceptable rate [24]. Green life cycle management is also a systems engineering approach to improve the environmental sustainability of the aviation sector [25]. At the same time, the challenges, opportunities, and key research priorities are discussed [26].…”

New Habits of Travellers Deriving from COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey in Ports and Airports of the Adriatic Region

“…The monthly total traffic of passengers at Dubrovnik and Pula airports accounted for between 24.5 and 30.3% of the whole air passenger traffic in Croatia (Table 1). Most of the small-to medium-sized Croatian and Italian airports serving the Adriatic region rely primarily on passenger traffic and experience peaks in the summer season [27].…”

Optimizing Airport Runway Capacity and Sustainability through the Introduction of Rapid Exit Taxiways: A Case Study

“…Research on airport sustainability is actually increasing, despite the fact that the interest of most authors is focused on global greenhouse gas emissions from airfield pavements and energy management strategies for airport buildings [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Less attention is given to other issues, such as water conservation [35][36][37][38][39], climate change resilience and weather resilience [40][41][42][43], and waste management [44][45][46].…”