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Air pollutant emissions from aircraft

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ircraft.html

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a
written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in
the Legislative Council today (March 27):

According to the 2010 Hong Kong Air Pollutants Emission Inventory
published by the Environmental Protection Department, emissions of three
types of air pollutants, namely sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and
carbon monoxide, from civil aviation in 2010 were higher than those in
2008. The Environmental Report 2010 published by the Civil Aviation
Department pointed out that, since the adjustment of the airways for
arrival aircraft from the west and the north of Hong Kong in October 2009
to shorten the travelling distances, carbon dioxide emissions from civil
aviation in 2010 were estimated to have dropped by about 350 000 tonnes.
In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the emissions of various air pollutants from aircraft in 2011 and
2012; any specific measures to reduce air pollutant emissions from
aircraft movements and aircraft parking at the Hong Kong International
Airport (HKIA);

(b) of the number of airways in the Hong Kong Flight Information Region
at present; whether the authorities have assessed the air pollutant
emissions from aircraft using various airways, and the impact of such air
pollutant emissions on Hong Kong¡¦s air quality; if they have, the
assessment result;

(c) of the districts where the air pollutant emissions from aircraft have
currently greater impact on the ground-level air quality; whether it has
assessed the risks posed by air pollutant emissions from aircraft on the
public health; if it has, of the assessment outcome;

(d) whether it knows which models of aircraft or what regions from which
they come have caused more serious air pollution, and the corresponding
measures taken by the authorities;

(e) whether it has assessed if the visibility in the vicinity of HKIA had
been affected by air pollution caused by aircraft movements and parking
in the past three years; if visibility had been affected, of the details,
and the corresponding measures taken by the authorities to ensure
aviation safety; and

(f) given a number of airports in the Pearl River Delta Region at
present, whether the authorities of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and
Macao have jointly established a mechanism, so as to reduce air pollution
caused by aircraft movements and parking in these airports?

Reply:

President,

(a) Every year, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) publishes
an annual emission inventory for Hong Kong listing out the quantities of
emissions of major emission sources.

On March 20, 2013, we published the emission inventory for 2011. The
emission inventory for 2012 is under preparation. According to the
published emission inventory, the total quantities of air pollutants
emitted during the arrivals, departures and parking of aircraft at the
HKIA in 2011 are set out in table 1.

Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Volume 2,
Part III, Chapter 2 specifies emission standards of air pollutants for
commercial aircraft including smoke, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon
monoxide and nitrogen oxides. All commercial aircraft operating in Hong
Kong have to comply with these emission standards to reduce their
emissions.

Since 2009, the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) has implemented new
airways that shortened the travelling distances for arrival aircraft from
the west and the north of Hong Kong to reduce the emissions of air
pollutants and carbon dioxide from aircraft. During 2011, more than
63,000 flights benefited from the shortened arrival routes and it is
estimated that up to 390,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were reduced.

Since its operation, the Airport Authority (AA) has provided electricity
powered fixed ground power (FGP) and pre-conditioned air (PCA) systems
for aircraft at parking stands to minimise the need for aircraft to use
their on-board fuel combustion auxiliary power generation units so as to
reduce their emissions.

About 80% of aircraft have now adopted the FGP and PCA systems. In 2014,
the AA will mandate aircraft at parking stands to use FGP and PCA
systems.

(b) and (c) There are currently five main airways in Hong Kong to
accommodate aircraft arriving and departing at the HKIA.

In 2011, the AA commissioned the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology to analyse the correlation between the emissions from the HKIA
and other areas in the North Lantau based on air quality data recorded at
the air quality monitoring stations in the vicinity of the airport from
March 2006 to February 2010.

The analytical results revealed that exceedances of the Air Quality
Objectives at Tung Chung were mainly due to ozone and respirable
suspended particulates primarily caused by regional air pollution instead
of emissions from the airport. Hence, the impact of emissions from the
airport on the air quality of Tung Chung is not significant.

Aircraft are flying at high altitudes most of the time except during
landing, take-off and taxiing that are close to the ground. Therefore,
emissions from aircraft have little impact on the air quality in other
districts in the region.

(d) All aircraft operating in Hong Kong have to comply with the emission
standards set out in the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

The total quantities of air pollutants emitted from individual models of
aircraft depend on a number of factors including the numbers of their
arrivals and departures in a year, the type, size and number of
engines.Even for aircraft of the same model, they may not have engines of
the same types or sizes and could have different quantities of
emissions.In general, larger aircraft with higher arrival and departure
frequencies will have greater quantities of emissions.

(e) The annual aircraft arrivals and departures at the HKIA increased by
16.8 per cent in the last five years. According to the record of the Hong
Kong Observatory in the same period, the number of hours of reduced
visibility recorded at the HKIA dropped from 1,951 hours in 2008 to 826
hours in 2012, down by 58 per cent. The annual averaged concentration of
fine suspended particulates (PM2.5), which is closely correlated to
visibility, recorded at EPD’s Tung Chung general air quality monitoring
station also showed a reduction of 24 per cent in the same period, from
37 ug/m3 in 2008 to 28 ug/m3 in 2012.

These data show that the visibility in the vicinity of airport was not
significantly affected by movements and parking of aircraft. Detailed
data are tabulated in table 2.

CAD, together with the AA and aircraft operators, have put in place
established procedures for air traffic control and ground operations at
the HKIA under reduced visibility conditions to ensure flight safety and
smooth operation. Such procedures include increasing nominal spacing
between aircraft, enhancing the safeguards of navigation signals, special
airfield ground light settings, closure of certain vehicular routes, etc.

(f) As mentioned in the reply to (b) and (c) above, emissions from
aircraft have little impact on air quality in the region.

Emission standards set out in Annex 16 to the Convention on International
Civil Aviation applies to aircraft arriving at the Guangdong Province,
Hong Kong and Macao for reducing emissions from aircraft movements.

Source: HKSAR Government

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