Air quality around airports. ETC HE Report 2025/7.
Abstract
Monitoring air quality around airports and nearby cities is crucial to understanding the role of emissions from air traffic and other airport activities. This report analyses air quality in 23 European airports, revealing limited observations in and around airport areas. Only three of the 23 airports had at least one air quality sampling point for NO2, PM2.5 and O3 inside the airport area. Concentrations in nearby cities can be up to double (NO2), 57% higher (PM2.5) and 85% higher (O3) when the wind comes from the airport. EEA air quality maps showed higher annual mean NO2 concentrations in airport areas compared to surrounding regions, with one airport above the 2030 limit value of 20 µg/m³. Annual mean PM2.5 concentrations were also higher in airport areas, with six airports exceeding the revised limit value. The limited number of sampling points makes it challenging to assess trends in NO2, PM2.5 and O3 concentrations. A final chapter of the report presents an overview of available measurements and studies of ultra fine particles (UFP) in the vicinity of airports.
Full text
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053 ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports — Eionet Portal Pozzoli, L., Gerwig, H., Gressent, A., Soares, J., Colette, A., & Monge, S. (2025). Air quality around airports (Eionet Report –ETC HE 2025/7, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053). ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports —Eionet Portal Milan-Linate LIN This fiche includes maps displaying the location of the sampling points (SPOs) around the airport of Milan (LIN) with measurements of NO2and PM2.5 in 2023 (E1a validated data AQ e-Reporting). The tables include additional information on the annual mean concentrations of each SPO with available data (data coverage larger than 75%), distances of the SPOs from the airport area, location of the SPO in one of the 8 wind sectors around the airport (WS:N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW), wind frequency blowing from the airport in that WS, population living in the WS within 10 km from the airport, and trends of annual mean concentrations (2005-2023) when available. This information has been complemented with the EEA air quality annual maps (1 km x 1 km), covering the whole area around the airport and showing in the boxplot the different levels concentrations over the airport area compared to the surrounding region, including the weighted area means for the different land cover classes. The presented information is based only on SPOs reported to the EEA, additional SPOs or data may exist at national level.
Airport area and NO2air quality SPOs around the airport within 5 and 10 km Airport area and PM2.5 air quality SPOs around the airport within 5, 10 and 20 km https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053 ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports — Eionet Portal Pozzoli, L., Gerwig, H., Gressent, A., Soares, J., Colette, A., & Monge, S. (2025). Air quality around airports (Eionet Report –ETC HE 2025/7, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053). ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports —Eionet Portal Milan-LIN
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053 ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports — Eionet Portal Pozzoli, L., Gerwig, H., Gressent, A., Soares, J., Colette, A., & Monge, S. (2025). Air quality around airports (Eionet Report –ETC HE 2025/7, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053). ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports —Eionet Portal NO2SPOs in 2023 around the airport Country Station code Station type Latitude Longitude Concentration (µg/m³) 2005 -2023 trend (%) Distance from airport area (km) Wind sector (WS) Wind frequency in WS (%) Population in WS and 10 km from airport Italy IT1692A Background 45.48 9.24 28.01 - 55.09 2.67 NW 10.41 451,247 Italy IT1290A Traffic 45.40 9.28 31.11 4.12 S 10.80 70,253 Italy IT0706A Background 45.48 9.33 27.96 - 36.21 4.15 NE 11.47 74,882 Italy IT1016A Traffic 45.47 9.20 34.81 - 49.11 4.89 NW 10.41 451,247 Italy IT0705A Traffic 45.46 9.20 31.86 - 45.97 4.97 W 13.84 389,837 Italy IT0761A Traffic 45.45 9.18 37.64 6.07 W 13.84 389,837 Italy IT0477A Traffic 45.50 9.19 43.79 - 47.13 6.57 NW 10.41 451,247
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053 ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports — Eionet Portal Pozzoli, L., Gerwig, H., Gressent, A., Soares, J., Colette, A., & Monge, S. (2025). Air quality around airports (Eionet Report –ETC HE 2025/7, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053). ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports —Eionet Portal PM2.5 SPOs in 2023 around the airport Country Station code Station type Latitude Longitude Concentration (µg/m³) 2005 -2023 trend (%) Distance from airport area (km) Wind sector (WS) Wind frequency in WS (%) Population in WS and 10 km from airport Italy IT1692A Background 45.48 9.24 15.97 - 44.52 2.67 NW 10.41 451,247 Italy IT1016A Traffic 45.47 9.20 21.17 4.89 NW 10.41 451,247 Italy IT0477A Traffic 45.50 9.19 18.25 6.57 NW 10.41 451,247 Italy IT0480A Traffic 45.53 9.24 16.29 8.05 N 9.79 120,574 Italy IT1743A Background 45.58 9.27 17.99 - 57.65 12.69 N 9.79 120,574
Concentrations over the airport area compared to the surrounding region. Coloured dots correspond to weighted area means for different land cover classes in the surrounding region. EEA air quality map (1 km x 1 km) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053 ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports — Eionet Portal Pozzoli, L., Gerwig, H., Gressent, A., Soares, J., Colette, A., & Monge, S. (2025). Air quality around airports (Eionet Report –ETC HE 2025/7, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053). ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports —Eionet Portal Annual mean NO2concentrations in 2023
Concentrations over the airport area compared to the surrounding region. Coloured dots correspond to weighted area means for different land cover classes in the surrounding region. EEA air quality map (1 km x 1 km) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053 ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports — Eionet Portal Pozzoli, L., Gerwig, H., Gressent, A., Soares, J., Colette, A., & Monge, S. (2025). Air quality around airports (Eionet Report –ETC HE 2025/7, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432053). ETC HE Report 2025/7: Air quality around airports —Eionet Portal Annual mean PM2.5 concentrations in 2023