The Athens International Airport and air quality

The Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos" began operation in March 2001. The Airport Company's Environmental Department, which has been certified according to ISO 14001, ensures compliance with environmental regulations and seeks to continuously improve the airport's environmental performance. The objective of this paper is to illustrate in detail the airport's comprehensive approach to air quality management. Exposure of the surrounding population is monitored with a multi-station Air Quality Monitoring Network (AQMN). Concentrations of ozone, particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and hydrocarbons are monitored along with basic meteorological parameters. A structured database was created for the AQMN, including the necessary programming to automate the quality control of the raw data based on scientific criteria and processing in accordance with accepted guidelines. Furthermore, the Airport Company is in the process of installing additional monitoring equipment, including a sound radar (wind profiler) and a Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) system. Finally, various company-wide measures are taken to reduce pollutant emissions as well as energy consumption.