Callum Thomas

Environmental capacity and airport operations: current issues and future prospects

Environmental factors and public perceptions already constrain growth at many airports—especially in Europe—and are likely to further constrain aviation in future. In this paper, the way in which these factors influence airport development is considered, together with methods of managing environmental capacity. Environmental limits are inherent to concepts of environmental capacity and sustainability. Although environmental efficiencies in aviation are the subject of considerable research effort, more attention needs to be given to defining and finding commercially viable ways of working within environmental limits.

The herring gull Larus argentatus as a likely transmitting agent of Salmonella montevideo to sheep and cattle.

This paper presents evidence for the involvement of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) as vectors in the recent outbreaks of Salmonella montevideo in sheep and cattle in Scotland and suggests that the transfer can take place over considerable distances. The breeding area in Scotland of herring gulls which overwinter in N.E. England is remarkably similar to the geographical distribution of the outbreaks. This pattern, together with the feeding behaviour of herring gulls on farmland, the presence of S. montevideo in herring gulls just before their departure from the wintering area and the timing of the return just before the peak of outbreaks are all circumstantial evidence implicating this gull in the outbreaks. The rapid return of these gulls to their breeding areas means that S. montevideo can be transported long distances in one day and raises the possibility that the original source of S. montevideo could have been in N.E. England rather than in Scotland.

Complaints caused by aircraft operations: an assessment of annoyance by noise level and time of day

The impact of aircraft movements on the local community surrounding an international airport was investigated using airport data on complaints, noise monitoring, aircraft flight paths and movements to assess annoyance due to noise level and time-of-day. As predicted, the louder the noise the more complaints were generated, with twice the complaints per movement at 110–114PNdB compared with 74–79PNdB.

Scandinavian Herring Gulls wintering in Britain

Biometric information was obtained from 13000 Herring Gulls Larus argentatus caught and ringed in northern England and southern Scotland outside the breeding season between 1978 and 1983. Morphological differences between males and females and between British and Scandinavian Herring Gulls have been used to identify both the sex and race of the birds. We describe the wintering distribution of the Scandinavian birds in Britain, their age and sex ratios and their time of arrival in and departure from Britain. Scandinavian Herring Gulls start to arrive in Britain in small numbers in September. The proportion of Scandinavian birds increases to a peak in December-January and the birds depart abruptly in late January or early February. Very few Scandinavian Gulls penetrate to the west side of Britain, while on the east side there is considerable regional variation in the proportion of Scandinavian birds. Between 70% and 80% of the adult Scandinavian birds examined were female. The proportion of adults amongst Scandinavian birds was much higher than amongst British birds.

A strategic decision support tool for indicating airport sustainability

Manchester Metropolitan and Loughborough Universities in the UK are engaged in a 3-year project to model airport sustainability, using Manchester Airport as the main source of data and knowledge of airport system dynamics, with other regional UK airports acting as validation sites. The purpose of the model is to supply strategic decision support during the process of planning airport growth and change. There is also potential for extending the model to assist in planning the regional distribution and integration of airports. The research process is described in Fig. 1. The main model entities defined are listed in Fig. 2.

SCAN-UK the UK sustainable cities and aviation network

Abstract Aviation is one of the fastest growing global industries with the economic development of many cities and regions being linked to the growth of their airports. The environmental consequences of such growth cannot, however, be ignored. Indeed, they threaten to constrain the future development of the industry, SCAN-UK is a attempting to set up a network, involving major players in the industry, academics, government and non-governmental organisations, to promote a balanced discussion of key areas for further research.

Sustainable mobility and the air transport industry -: Comments on the European commission's views

Abstract Recently, the European Commission promulgated a Communication setting out its views and intentions with respect to the impact upon the environment of the steadily increasing volume of air traffic. In this article, the authors review the main points made by the Commission and add their comments on some of the issues which have to be addressed.