Pollution

Discharges to Water and Soil

Activities at the airports must not cause new soil contamination or deterioration of the water environment. This involves continuous efforts to monitor and reduce the discharge of de-icing chemicals.

The use of de-icing chemicals is absolutely necessary to reduce ice and snow on aircraft and runways, ensuring that conditions comply with safety regulations. Runoff and dispersion of de-icing chemicals from airport areas can affect the environment’s tolerance and degradation capacity, as both aircraft and runway de-icing agents require oxygen for biological degradation.

The consumption of de-icing chemicals at the airports is continuously monitored. At airports with high usage and vulnerable recipients, mitigating measures are considered. Examples of such measures include changes in ploughing patterns, increased use of grit, removal of snow from snow disposal sites, and greater use of mechanical work. The amount of de-icing chemicals used per year varies with weather and temperature conditions, as well as the total number of flight departures.

All Avinor airports have valid discharge permits in accordance with the Pollution Control Act. These regulate the use of chemicals and set requirements for emergency preparedness in the event of accidental discharges, as well as for environmental risk assessments. Avinor’s discharge permits are available at https://www.norskeutslipp.no/ under Land-Based Industry – Airport. Several of the airports’ discharge permits include requirements for comprehensive studies of the recipient conditions to ensure compliance with the Water Regulations/EU Water Framework Directive. Reports from completed studies can be found here.

Avinor works to ensure that the environmental impact around the airports is as low as possible. This is to be achieved through systematic efforts, good maintenance routines, and emergency preparedness systems.

Avinor’s procurement and purchase of chemicals

Avinor sets environmental requirements in its procurements and contracts. This means, among other things, that materials and products used at our airports must not contain substances listed on the Norwegian Priority List of chemicals considered to pose a serious threat to health and the environment. A lower presence of such substances at airports also means a lower potential for releases of these substances into the environment.

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

PFAS

There is growing concern related to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) because these substances break down very slowly in nature, tend to spread in the environment, accumulate in living organisms, and may be harmful to health. Since 2001, Avinor has used PFOS-free firefighting foam, and since 2012, foam completely free of fluorinated compounds. As an individual measure, this is one of the most important steps Avinor has taken to reduce PFAS leakage. Internationally, some airports still use firefighting foam containing PFAS. Historical use has led to soil contamination at Avinor’s airports, which still contributes to some PFAS leaking into the surrounding environment.

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 PFAS emissions,” along with a short-term goal to “Remediate PFAS-contaminated areas in accordance with orders from the Norwegian Environment Agency.” In practice, this short-term goal means that cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites will be carried out at two airports per year during the period 2023–2027. This will be measured using two KPIs:

• Number of sites (airports) where remediation measures have been completed.

• Amount of PFAS (kilograms) removed from circulation through removal or measures reducing dispersion.

Avinor has established a dedicated PFAS program responsible for mapping, preparing action plans, and carrying out remediation in response to orders from the Norwegian Environment Agency. The program’s work is based on the principle that the total PFAS emissions from Avinor’s airports shall be reduced as much as possible (in accordance with the requirements of the agency’s orders). The objective 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 2019 summary report prepared following an order from the Norwegian Environment Agency. The figure below shows the measures implemented so far at Avinor’s sites (Figure 1).

Measures implemented so far (including ongoing work in 2025) at the aforementioned airports have removed or reduced the spread of 245 kilograms of PFAS, mainly through excavation and disposal (Figure 2). All excavated material has been delivered to landfills with special permits 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 implement alternative remediation methods beyond those used so far (water treatment/excavation and disposal), in order to carry out cleanups more cost-effectively without compromising environmental impact.

Avinor has made an accounting provision to reflect the expected costs related to the work and cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites. This provision is subject to significant uncertainty and is continuously updated as new information becomes available. Changes in regulatory requirements, limit values, and framework conditions from authorities may affect the costs related to PFAS activities. As of Q2 2025, the provision amounts to NOK 775 million.

Aircraft and helicopter noise

Noise is unwanted sound and is considered pollution under the Norwegian Pollution Control Act. Noise from airports mainly originates from aircraft and helicopters during landing, take-off, and taxiing.

Avinor regularly conducts noise mapping at all of its airports and monitors flight path usage at the larger airports. The company works actively to limit noise exposure (from aircraft and helicopter traffic) for residents in the surrounding areas of the airports.

Aircraft noise exposure depends on aircraft types, traffic volume, runway usage, flight path selection, and the distribution of traffic throughout the day. In addition to noise mapping, Avinor’s most important tools are traffic management and adjustments to arrival and departure procedures. Satellite-based procedures are an essential means in this context and will be used increasingly in the years to come. The most important tool for preventing increased aircraft noise exposure in residential areas is the use of aircraft noise zone maps, which illustrate the expected future noise situation. Municipalities are required to use these maps in their land-use planning, while Avinor, in turn, must assess the municipalities’ land-use plans as part of its own work.

The introduction of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter type for offshore transport has led to a significant increase in noise levels at certain airports. Efforts to improve this situation are highly prioritized, including through 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 identifying noise-reducing measures.

In 2012, the Norwegian Parliament decided that the new F-35 fighter aircraft would be stationed at Ørland. Four of the aircraft are to be based at Evenes as part of the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) and High Readiness Base (HLB). The Parliament’s decision entails the re-establishment of Evenes as a permanent military airbase.

It has been documented that F-35 aircraft, during take-off, expose the areas around the terminal building to noise levels exceeding LpASmax 115 dBA, which, according to the national zoning plan, is considered potentially harmful to hearing. These high noise levels occur during F-35 take-offs using afterburners. Avinor is implementing measures to protect passengers, employees, and other visitors to the airports from harmful noise exposure.

Here you can find information about noise zone maps.