Fine dust around major European airports could affect 52 million people

Planes parked at Luton Airport north of London, England.

On June 25, the Transport and Environment (T&E) organization warned that about 52 million people living around Europe's busiest airports are at risk of health damage due to the concentration of fine particles emitted during the combustion of jet fuel.

Ultrafine particles (UFPs), approximately 1,000 times smaller than a human hair, are released during takeoff and landing. Their tiny size allows UFPs to easily penetrate human tissues, and there is growing evidence that they are harmful to human health. However, UFPs remain largely unregulated.

The Brussels-based organization T&E analyzed UFP concentrations around Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport based on data collected by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

T&E then applied these results to the 32 busiest European airports, assuming that UFP pollution increased with air traffic and was evenly distributed around each airport.

According to T&E, within a 5-km radius around Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport, RIVM researchers recorded UFP concentrations ranging from 4,000 to 30,000 particles per cubic centimeter (cm3).

Meanwhile, in city centers, UFP concentrations ranged from 3,000 to 12,000 particles per cm3, demonstrating that airports have a significant impact on UFP pollution. Accordingly, T&E concluded that 52 million people living within a 20 km radius of a busy European airport are at risk of serious health damage due to high UFP concentrations.

T&E also said that reducing air traffic and improving jet fuel quality could mitigate the problem in the short term, while also providing additional climate benefits. It called for increased monitoring and increased UFP reduction targets.

Last February, Airparif, the Paris-area air quality monitoring agency, measured UFP concentrations of 23,000/cm3 at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The monitoring agency found particularly high UFP concentrations within 5 km of airports.

According to vietnamplus.vn

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