Pollution

Discharges to Water and Ground

Activities at the airports should not result in new ground pollution or a reduced state of the aquatic environment. This involves continuous work to monitor and reduce discharges of deicing chemicals.  

The use of deicing chemicals is absolutely necessary to reduce ice and snow on airplanes and runways, so that conditions comply with safety regulations. Runoff and spreading of deicing chemicals from the airport areas can affect nature's resilience and degradation capacity, as both aircraft and runway deicing chemicals require oxygen for biological decomposition.  

The consumption of deicing chemicals at the airports is continuously monitored. At airports with high consumption and vulnerable recipients, mitigating measures are considered. Examples of such measures include changes in plowing patterns, increased use of sand, removal of snow from snow deposits, and more use of mechanical work. The amounts of deicing chemicals used per year vary with weather and temperature conditions, as well as the total number of flight departures. 

All Avinor airports have valid discharge permits according to the Pollution Control Act. These regulate the use of chemicals and impose requirements for preparedness in case of acute discharges, as well as for environmental risk assessments. 

Avinor's Procurement and Purchase of Chemicals  

Avinor imposes environmental requirements in procurements and contracts. This means, among other things, that materials and products at our airports must not contain substances that are on the list of chemicals considered to pose a serious threat to health and the environment (the Norwegian priority list). Less presence of such substances at the airports also means less potential emissions of these substances to the environment. 

For runway de-icing, substances with the lowest environmental impact of available runway de-icing chemicals are used. 

PFAS There is increasing concern related to PFAS because these substances degrade very slowly in nature, tend to spread in the environment, accumulate in living organisms, and can be harmful to health. Since 2001, Avinor has used PFOS-free firefighting foam and since 2012, firefighting foam completely free of fluorinated compounds. As an individual measure, this is one of the most important things Avinor has done to reduce the leakage of PFAS. Internationally, there are airports that still use PFAS-containing firefighting foam. Historical use has led to contamination of the ground at Avinor's airports, and this still contributes to some PFAS leaking into the environment around the airports. In Avinor's climate and environmental strategy from 2023, a long-term goal was adopted stating that "Avinor shall contribute to the national objective of reducing emissions of PFAS," and a short-term goal of "Cleaning up PFAS-contaminated areas in accordance with orders from the Environment Agency." In practice, the short-term goal means that cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites will be carried out at two airports per year between 2023 and 2027.This will be measured with two KPIs: 

• Number of locations (airports) where measures have been implemented.  

• Amount of PFAS (kilos) removed from circulation through removal or spread-reducing measures.  

Avinor has established its own PFAS program responsible for mapping, preparing action plans, and clean-ups following orders from the Environment Directorate.

The foundation of the program's work is that the total emissions of PFAS from Avinor's airports shall be reduced as much as possible (according to requirements imposed by the Environmental Directorate). The goal is to remove PFAS, or reduce its spread, from the most contaminated areas at 13 prioritized airports by 2027. The prioritization is based on the summary report from 2019, prepared following the Environmental Directorate's orders. The figure below shows the measures that have been implemented at Avinor's locations (Figure 1). The measures implemented so far (including ongoing work in 2025) at the aforementioned airports have removed or reduced the spread of 245 kilos of PFAS, primarily through excavation and disposal (Figure 2). All the masses have been delivered to a landfill with special permission to receive PFAS-contaminated masses. Avinor is also working to increase its knowledge of new and relevant remediation methods for PFAS-contaminated soil and/or water. Avinor aims to be able to use other remediation methods than those used so far (water purification/excavation and disposal), so that the cleanup can be carried out more cost-effectively without compromising environmental impact. Avinor has an accounting provision that is intended to reflect the expected costs associated with the work and cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites.

Airplane and Helicopter Noise (Noiseboyz) 

Noise is unwanted sound and is considered pollution according to the Pollution Control Act. Noise from airports is mainly due to airplanes and helicopters landing, taking off, or taxiing.  

Avinor regularly conducts noise mapping at all of Avinor's airports and records route usage at major airports. Avinor actively works to limit the noise impact (from airplane and helicopter traffic) for residents in the vicinity of the airports. 

Airplane noise exposure depends on aircraft types, traffic volume, runway use, route choice, and the distribution of traffic over time. Beyond noise mapping, Avinor's most important tools are traffic management and adjustments to arrival and departure procedures. Satellite-based procedures are an essential tool in this context and will be used as measures in the coming years. The most important tool to prevent increased airplane noise exposure in residential areas is noise zone maps that describe the future noise landscape.The municipalities are obligated to use these maps in their land-use planning, while Avinor must consider the municipalities' land-use plans in its work. The introduction of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter for offshore transport has caused a significant increase in noise pollution at certain airports. Efforts to improve this are highly prioritized, including the establishment of a national helicopter noise committee where relevant stakeholders are gathered. The committee's primary task is to share information and provide advice on the noise situation around affected airports, with the goal of finding noise-reducing measures. In 2012, the Storting decided that the new F-35 fighter jets would be stationed at Ørland. Four of the aircraft will be stationed at Evenes in a base for Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) and High Readiness Alert (HRA). The Storting's decision involves the re-establishment of Evenes as a permanent military air station. It has been demonstrated that the F-35 upon departure imposes noise levels over LpASmax of 115 dBA around the terminal building areas, which in the state regulatory plan is considered potentially harmful to hearing. The high noise levels occur in connection with F-35 departures with afterburner.