Aviation has brought significant benefits to world trade and development. But this success has not been without environmental impacts on climate change, local air quality and noise.
And with air travel predicted to more than double in the next 30 years, policymakers, regulators and the aviation industry itself must find new ways to control and mitigate against the harmful environmental impacts.
The scale and urgency of the challenge requires step change technology – which is not currently available. If society requires flight for business or pleasure, serious strategic research is needed to unlock innovative solutions. And these must be based on professional research, policy-relevant studies, specialist knowledge, and informed debate.