The environmental performance of the aircraft operating within Europe has been improving over time as the latest technology penetrates the global fleet.
illustrates the % share of EU27+EFTA operations by aircraft noise performance in terms of cumulative margin3 to the oldest Chapter 3 limit. The trend following COVID has continued up to 2023 where only 1.8% of aircraft operations were marginally compliant Chapter 3, while 50.6% of aircraft operations complied with the most recent Chapter 14 limits. A similar trend has been observed in terms of aircraft NOX emissions with 51.9% of operations having aircraft engines that comply with the most recent CAEP/8 limits.3 ‘Cumulative margin’ is the figure expressed in EPNdB obtained by adding the individual margins (i.e. the differences between the certificated noise level and the maximum permitted noise level) at each of the three reference noise measurement points in Chapter 3. See also Figure 3.2 in Technology and Design chapter.
