Calculation of domestic flight-caused global warming potential from aircraft emissions in Turkish airports

Abstract

In this study, global warming potential (GWP) is calculated for aircrafts used in Turkish airports. The basic idea of this study is to investigate both emissions and their GWP values. This study is conducted in three steps, namely: 1) finding busiest airports in Turkey; 2) specifying the most used aircraft types and its engines; and 3) calculation of domestic flight-caused GWP value for both the total number of aircraft and per-passenger evaluation. In this regard, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 GWP 100a methodology is utilised along with the method of the life cycle assessment. While the total average GWP value is 1,629 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO(2)e) per landing and takeoff (LTO), the total domestic flight-caused GWP value was calculated as 257,305 tons of CO(2)e per year in 2002 and 998,118 tons of CO(2)e per year in 2012. While, the last two years have had an average value of 12-13 kg CO(2)e per passenger for one airport, the GWP values per passenger have averaged 15.35 kg CO(2)e per passenger, per airport over these years.