Aviation is the fastest growing mode of travel in the world.
Currently airports rank as high as smokestack industries in the amount of pollution they release into the environment. Yet they are excluded from many of the pollution controls and disclosure requirements that equally polluting industries must follow. Aircraft air pollution is increasing fast. While air pollution from automobiles and many major industries have stabilized or decreased, aircraft continue to emit more smog-forming gases such as volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides. According to the Environmental Protection Agency that in 1993, aircraft emitted 350million pounds of these pollutants during their landing and take-off cycles, more than twice the figure in 1970.