Background:
This profile deals with land and facilities licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority for air passenger and freight transport and for flying training. It does not include military airfields. Many former airport sites have been put to new uses such as agriculture, parks, housing and industrial activities.
Potential Processes and Operations:
The key activities undertaken on an airport facility are:
- Fuelling
- De-icing
- Aircraft servicing and maintenance
- Other airport operations including fire control
Secondary activities include catering, freight handling, car parking, car hire and site leasing for non-airport uses such as industrial estates.
Potential Contaminants of Concern:
| Contaminant type | Main group of contaminants | Location | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel delivery/ storage transport | Maintenance service areas | Runways and aprons | Drainage systems and soakaways | Waste disposal | Fire station, fire training areas, foam storage & fire incidents | ||
| Organic | Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) | • | • | • | • | ||
| Halogenated hydrocarbons | • | • | • | • | |||
| Non-halogenated hydrocarbons | • | • | • | ||||
| Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs | |||||||
| Dioxins and furans | |||||||
| Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) | |||||||
| Pesticides and herbicides | • | • | • | • | |||
| Organometallic compounds | |||||||
| Explosives | |||||||
| Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) |
• | • | • | • | • | ||
| Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| Inorganic | Metals | • | • | • | |||
| Non-metals and common inorganic substances |
|
• | • | ||||
| Asbestos |
|
• | • | ||||
| Cyanides |
|
||||||
| Radionuclides | |||||||
| Other potential contaminants of concern | Aircraft de-icing/anti-icing fluids (e.g. glycols); pavement de-icing for runways, taxiways and operational areas (e.g. potassium acetate); lubricants; hydraulic fluids. See original Industry Profile for additional potential contaminants. | ||||||
Original Industry Profile:
Further Information Sources:
- CL:AIRE PFAS Site Profile 1 - Civil and Military Airfields and Airports (due to be published in summer 2026)
- CL:AIRE PFAS Site Profile 3 - Firefighting grounds and fire stations (due to be published in summer 2026)
- CL:AIRE PFAS Site Profile 12 - Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) (due to be published in summer 2026)
- CL:AIRE PFAS Site Profile 13 - Fire Suppression Systems (due to be published in summer 2026)
- Nunes et al., Environmental Impacts on Soil and Groundwater at Airports: Origin, Contaminants of Concern and Environmental Risks (DOI: 10.1039/c1em10458f) (2011)
- International Civil Aviation Organization (e.g. Fire manuals)
