Equity and health impacts of aircraft emissions at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

The development and expansion of airports has important effects on urban infrastructure, economies, and equity. With air travel demand expected to grow by 77% in the next twenty years, there is a growing need to address airports' impacts on residents. This study examines the impacts of aircraft emissions on concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a harmful form of air pollution, at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport. Aircraft landing and takeoff emissions were modeled for June-July 2002 using the Advanced Modeling System for Transport, Emissions, Reactions, and Deposition of Atmospheric Matter (AMSTERDAM). Distributional analyses show that within 675 of 710 census tracts of the 29-county Atlanta metropolitan region, the average aircraft contribution to PM2.5 was low (<20 ng/m3). However, in tracts where aircraft contribution to PM2.5 exceeded 20 ng/m3 (36 tracts), populations overwhelmingly had lower median incomes, home values, and educational attainment, as well as higher percentages of nonwhite residents, (p < 0.01). OLS regression, principal components analysis, and quantile regression explore the mediating relationships between socioeconomic variables. The relationship between minority population percentages and aircraft-derived particulate matter was found to grow stronger as concentrations increased. Analysis using a concentration-response function indicates that the airport's influence on PM2.5 concentrations may be responsible for ≈1.4 premature adult (age 25+) deaths per year (90% confidence interval: 0.5-2.7). The use of air quality modeling in planning decisions may help protect residents and give them necessary information to push for policies and technologies that would reduce emissions and exposure.