Recently the Australian aviation industry has experienced unprecedented growth, driven by strong global economies and low cost airlines. Current aircraft design has seemingly reached a point of diminishing returns with regard to improving the energy efficiency of jet engines (at least in the short-term) (Peeters et al., 2005). Consequently one of the main strategies for mitigating global warming within the aviation industry is to produce larger aircraft that can carry more passengers. This strategy increases engine efficiency in terms of fuel usage per passenger per kilometre travelled and can also be used on existing aircraft by keeping passenger occupancy rates high on all aircraft movements.

Under its environmental responsibilities Airservices Australia has established a Noise and Flight Path Monitoring System (NFPMS) at Australia’s major airports, including Cairns, Coolangatta, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. This paper investigates how this high passenger occupancy strategy has limited the aviation impact near Australia’s major airports through spatially mapping the NFPMS trend near these airports over the last six years.
The significance of this research is that it will highlight geographic areas that have experienced the largest amount of change in aircraft movement. This will assist the aviation industry to further lessen its social and environmental impact in the face of future predicted demand.