Airports are one of the segments within air transport and their serviceability ensures air transport efficiency. However, airports are among the largest contributors to the negative environmental impact of this kind of transport. Individual activities at airports leave a negative environmental footprint. By optimizing processes, it is possible to reduce the negative environmental impacts of these subjects. Airport winter maintenance is one of the important activities accompanying airports in geographical areas where winter season is expected due to the climate zone and weather conditions. Effective winter maintenance ensures optimal airport operation and has a significant impact on safety. However, the winter maintenance of the airport causes an excessive burden on the environment around the airports, in particular by applying de-icing agents to aircraft and movement areas, or by emissions and noise caused by equipment for snow and ice removal. The aim of the present article is to optimize the winter maintenance of the airport, namely the deployment of winter maintenance equipment with respect to meteorological conditions while maintaining the priorities for winter maintenance between individual airport areas. The aim of optimization is to achieve the saving of maintenance time and reduce the negative environmental impact of winter maintenance by effectively deploying equipment and devices.

The common factor for all airlines in reducing aircraft operating costs is improving fuel economy. Many international organizations such as EASA, ICAO or ICCT as well as aircraft operators put strong emphasis on improving aircraft fuel efficiency not only for economical but also for ecological reasons. It can be noticed that biggest improvements are achieved through implementation of new aircraft models and engines. Fuel consumption goals have been set by ICAO to achieve an annual improvement of 2% from year 2020 to 2050, however according to some experts this goal is probably is not going to be met as industry is lagging approximately 12 years behind this plan due to technological and economic reasons.

Investigation into the production flaws in thin solid carbon laminates by using the ultrasonic phased array method.