Parametric Assessment of Aviation Environmental Goals: Implications on R&D Decision Making

Abstract

The prospects of the U.S. commercial aviation sector remain positive with a long-term outlook of growth, driven by the U.S. and world economies. The National Airspace System (NAS) is anticipated to become congested and flight delays are likely to propagate throughout the system. This will likely increase the consumption of aviation fuel, and consequently, nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Several U.S. research initiatives are addressing the sustainability needs of the future NAS. Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set system level goals to guide future research and development (R&D) programs. This paper proposes a quantitative approach that bridges the gap between R&D initiatives and IATA’s system level goals. The objective is to provide valuable insight into required contributions from technologies, operations, and bio-fuels to assess the applicability of IATA’s goals.