Noise, emissions, chemical usage and hazardous materials are becoming everybody's business.

Flying the Friendly Skies may be United Airlines' old motto, but it could be the mantra for environmental efforts going on throughout the aviation industry. Reducing noise and emissions are some of the skyward efforts, but making ground-based aftermarket operations more Earth friendly are growing, too.

"Environmental concerns will increasingly limit growth of the air transport industry in the 21st century unless rigorous action is taken to augment current research and technology," stated a National Academies' "For Greener Skies" report in 2002. Ray Valeika, an aviation advisor who was a committee member for the report, said this quote sets the context for today's environmental efforts for aviation.

The green scene's root structure is spreading throughout Europe and the U.S., but is being nurtured by different forces on each side of the Atlantic. The main difference is that European Commission environmental laws generally are stricter, "and they are probably at the forefront of pushing reduction of hazardous materials everywhere, and not just in the aircraft industry," said Cheryl Lobo, director of Global Services Engineering for Pratt & Whitney. "Our American customers are interested too, but European customers are being driven by regulation. American customers are being driven more by popular sentiment and the need to reduce costs."

Examples of EC programs cultivating greener aviation include the contentious consideration whether aviation should be included in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (the EC on Dec. 20 declared intra-European air travel will be); the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE)'s 2020 Vision, which includes programs somewhat linked, such as Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative, VITAL (environmentally friendly aero engines), REACH (Registration Evaluation & Authorization of Chemicals) and RoHS (restriction of hazardous substances in electronics). ACARE, launched in 2001, includes EC member states, manufacturers, service providers, academia, research entities and airlines that are working together to plan research programs that will reduce air transport's noise, emissions, congestion and delays.

Major aftermarket environmental efforts are focusing on eliminating hazardous materials, upgrading engines, reducing chemicals, improving waste streams and using less energy in maintenance hangars and backshops.

Regulations are driving some of environmental initiatives, but another element nourishing the growth is an intense evaluation of an aircraft's life cycle -- from production to dismantling. To glimpse the future verdant landscape, MROs need to understand what the OEMs, acting like horticulturalists, are doing with their seeds.

Life-Cycle Approach

Airbus is evaluating the environmental impact of its aircraft from design to production to operation to dismantling, said Philippe de Saint Aulaire, head of the airframer's environmental affairs. Part of the effort comes from Airbus seeking ISO 14001, the international environmental standard, throughout its industrial sites, as well as implementing an environmental management system throughout the company for all aspects of operations. Airbus was undergoing the final audit at presstime. The company's program, which includes continuous improvement processes, tackles environmental issues in every department and tries to change people's awareness and mindsets about the greenest way to work day to day.