Airports are a key determinant of GDP and are of much importance to local and regional economies in terms of the contributions made to businesses and tourism. Growth in air transport has been fairly consistent at approximately 9% per annum over the past 10 years. Present indicators predict that such growth levels are likely to continue or increase over the next 10 to 20 years. At the present time little has been done in order to determine whether or not such growth rates can be realised in an environmentally sustainable matter. Airports are typically associated with detrimental environmental effects. The EU have recently accepted a proposal to control environmental infringements caused by both airports and airlines. Continued environmental damage could have substantial influences on the general quality of life, the future of the aviation sector and on the global environment in relation to CO2 emissions . The airport can have a significant influence on the level of environmental damage inflicted by the growth in air transport both in terms of managing and restricting the aircraft types which it allows to operate in terms of its facilities provision and management. The facilities provided at airports are diverse in nature and can significantly affect the airlines and aircraft using the airport. Consequently, the strategic airport facilities management has a significant potential to influence the environmental impact of the predicted continued growth of the air transport sector. This paper investigates these issues in depth and explores the impact that the future environmental regulation is likely to have upon strategic airport facilities management. The paper proposes a provisional model relating to the strategic facilities manager to airport environmental impact and thus the importance of the facilities manager in securing sustainable aviation sector growth is explored.

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