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Shannon is ProjectPlanner, Aviation andSustainability, C&SCompanies, Los Angeles,California. Andrus isProject Manager,Aviation andSustainability Services,Mead & Hunt, Denver,Colorado.

As the global climate continues to shift, trans-portation systems will encounter challengeswithout historic precedent. The complete

extent of these challenges remains to be seen, butalready the built environment is experiencingincreased stress from climate change, including morefrequent and intense heat events, droughts, andstorms.

The aviation industry has undertaken significantefforts to reduce the rate of climate change bydecreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,notably by increasing fuel efficiency and the use ofbiofuels. A sustainable future, however, also requiresresiliency—the ability to plan for, recover from, andrespond dynamically to hardship, change, or disas-ters in a way that has limited impact on operations.

At their own facilities, airports have madeprogress toward climate resiliency by emphasizingon-site infrastructure improvements and stakeholdercollaboration to identify solutions. In addition, theaviation industry has contributed to resiliency at thelocal, regional, industry, and global levels, and the

potential for new and evolving roles is great.Although some opportunities may be uniquely avail-able to aviation, other transportation sectors canreplicate many of the aviation industry’s measures toincrease the resiliency of the network as a whole.

Local and Regional InitiativesEmergency HubsAs a benefit to their local communities and to theirbroader geographic regions, airports can provide aportal for regional emergency services, offering food,water, medical care, and shelter during extremeevents. For example, airports can work with emer-gency services to create on-airport public safety sta-tions. These stations consolidate emergency serviceswith the airport’s resources, providing a range ofequipment and capabilities to streamline coordina-tion.

Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe,Pennsylvania, recently opened a Regional EmergencyOperations Center, which covers 13 counties inWestern Pennsylvania, includes ambulance services,

Aviation’s Evolving Role in aChanging ClimateCurrent Contributions and Future PotentialC A R LY S H A N N O N A N D K A T E A N D R U S

(Above:) The aviationindustry faces specialchallenges from achanging climate andmore volatile weatherpatterns.

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and serves as a coordination center for local, county,state, and federal emergency operations. The airportalso acts as a communications hub and 911 center tomaintain communications during emergencies. Theairport was chosen as the hub because of the strate-gic access to emergency services, supplies, and com-munications, as well as the availability of a largepavement area for the staging of resources.

Ensuring ContinuityAirports also can supplement regional ground trans-portation networks and leverage these services dur-ing climate-related events or can increase theirservices as needed to compensate and balance thesystem as a whole. Because of the independence ofair travel from ground-based infrastructure beyondthe airport facilities, aviation can fill the voids left bymajor infrastructure failures or blockages affectingother transportation modes.

For example, military aircraft can land in extremeconditions to deliver supplies when roadways areblocked. In addition, cargo services at airports canexpand to assist with the movement of critical goodsor to minimize the effects of network disruptions onthe gross domestic product.

Collaborative AdaptationsIn addition to coordinating emergency services andsupplementing transportation networks, many air-ports are engaging with regional stakeholders toaddress climate change, offering valuable support

that draws on experience in risk management. Air-port Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Syn-thesis 33, Airport Climate Adaptation and Resilience,published in 2012, detailed this coordination, assem-bling findings from a survey of practices and proce-dures at North American and United Kingdomairports.1

Of the survey respondents, 38 percent reportedworking with regional community emergency plan-ning groups or regional planning authorities toaddress weather disruptions and related impactsstrategically. For example, the San Diego CountyRegional Airport Authority actively participated in aneffort led by ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustain-ability and two other local organizations to developan adaptation strategy for sea level rise.

Arnold Palmer RegionalAirport’s new emergencyoperations center servesas a coordination hub forlocal, county, state, andregional operations.

In the aftermath ofHurricane Katrina in2005, more than 2,500emergency workers werehoused at a New Orleans,Louisiana, airport,sleeping on cots in thebaggage claim andeating meals outdoors.

1 www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/167238.aspx.

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Airports have experience in addressing and plan-ning for unique risks, such as safety, security, andvolatility in cash flow. The lessons learned at indi-vidual facilities can be indispensable to other orga-nizations planning for climate-related risks.

Industry InvolvementAirports also can play important roles at the indus-try level in adapting to climate change. For example,airports are involved in sponsoring research and insharing the findings and the lessons learned thatcontribute to the aviation system’s resilience.

Information SharingACRP has completed several climate-related proj-ects in addition to ACRP Synthesis 33, and others arein process. ACRP Report 147 provides guidance onairport risk assessments,2 and ACRP Project 2-74 isinvestigating ways to integrate climate risk into air-port management systems.3 Completed projects

incorporate firsthand input from airports that havefaced major climate-related events, including Hurri-cane Sandy, and focus on important elements such asflood planning, backup power, and public healthmanagement. Resilience is about responding dynam-ically—sharing the experiences of airports can helpimprove the entire industry and beyond.

The Sustainable Aviation Guidance Alliance(SAGA) provides another means of information shar-ing, through a database of sustainability initiativesdeveloped by and for airports. Industry leaders orig-inally created SAGA, and an ACRP project recentlyupdated it to allow stakeholders to input sustain-ability-related best practices, including those relatedto climate change.4

Airports are embracing information sharing andhave foregone the proprietary nature of innovativeideas, recognizing the importance of a cohesive avi-ation system addressing climate change. Beyondnationwide collaboration, airports are interactingthrough forums such as the Airports Going GreenConference, working to build a more resilient systemby spreading sustainability-related best practicesglobally. This extensive network operates under theassumption that improving each part of the systemcould benefit the entire system, reduce risk, and ulti-mately contribute to economic stability.

Influencing Supply ChainsIn a recent initiative, airports and airlines are influ-encing their supply chains to reduce climate impacts.Airports not only are undertaking their own effortsbut are passing these commitments along to businesspartners via strategic partnerships, operating meth-ods, or requirements and guidelines for building.Across the country, airports have begun engagingstakeholders in GHG mitigation through programsthat convert airport vehicles to less GHG-intensivefuels and that encourage the use of preconditionedair at airline gates to reduce the fuel used by aircraftauxiliary power units.

Some airports have gone a step farther by inte-grating resilient infrastructure development mea-sures into their tenant guidelines. The MassachusettsPort Authority has required use of its FloodproofingDesign Guide by all staff, tenants, and contractorsduring the planning, design, and construction ofprojects at Boston Logan Airport.5

As airports exert their influence in communica-tions, disaster preparedness, and business practices,tangible benefits can be realized throughout theindustry.

Because of San DiegoInternational Airport’sproximity to the water,the regional airportauthority collaboratedwith other organizationsto develop an adaptationstrategy for sea level rise.

Several AirportCooperative ResearchProgram projects haveexplored climate-relatedemergency managementtopics such as floodplanning and backuppower.

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2 Climate Change Adaptation Planning: Risk Assessmentfor Airports, www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/173554.aspx.3 http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4020

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Global EffectsOn a global level, new technology is addressing cli-mate change by improving the operational efficiencyof the aviation sector. The U.S. NextGen program, forexample, involves a transition from ground-based tosatellite-based navigation and surveillance, as well asother upgrades, to increase the efficiency of the air-space system.

The completed NextGen system can contribute toclimate change mitigation by reducing overall GHGemissions associated with air travel—routes will bemore direct, reducing travel distances—and to theresilience of the aviation system. During extremestorm events, for example, the rerouting of flightswould not depend on ground-based navigationalaids; this change should alleviate some delays causedby climate-related weather events that can lead tosystemwide issues.

Delays of a few minutes within the U.S. system canhave regional and international effects, including missedconnections. Alleviating delays would ease some pres-sures on the international system and contribute to moredynamic and efficient operations globally.

Forthcoming OpportunitiesAviation has the potential to play additional roles insupporting the resiliency of the transportation sys-tem. For example, airports can serve in the “canary”role—that is, detecting problems early. Because oftheir sensitivity to weather events, such as changingtemperatures, airports often can identify risks ortrends toward extremes before other industries.

For example, as the climate changes, airport pave-ments may be subject to more punctuated freeze–

thaw cycles, as well as to higher temperatures; thecycles affect the pavement’s service life. A long expo-sure to high heat, for instance, can make some pave-ment soft. At Reagan National Airport in Arlington,Virginia, an aircraft became stuck in a pavement softspot produced by high temperatures over the courseof a week. By tracking airport pavement conditionnationwide, emerging trends and lessons learnedcould benefit the entire transportation system—including roadways—and allow a more informedand proactive response in planning, budgeting, andsetting design standards.

In addition, the aviation industry can shape theuse of rapidly growing technologies related tounmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to assist inresilience—for example, by using drones to conductemergency service functions that normally requireground-based transportation and access. In extremeevents, emergency service providers could use dronesto assess the damage to vital resources, such as road-ways, other transportation systems, supply caches,wastewater facilities, and the like, and to provideemergency support to areas that have been cut off.

Dynamic ResponseThe ability to respond dynamically to climate chal-lenges is vital. The aviation industry and its tech-nologies provide many opportunities for positivedevelopments in this arena, linking communitiesand the aviation system nationwide and globally, andproviding opportunities for coordinated and sharedapproaches to improving adaptation, resilience, andemergency response measures. The result will be amore efficient, resilient, and beneficial system.

Airport Manager BobOler examines debrisfrom a tornado thatdamaged WatongaRegional Airport inOklahoma. Because oftheir sensitivity toweather events, airportscan provide earlywarnings of risks ortrends affectingtransportationinfrastructure.

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