Aviation operations at an airport can affect local communities in ways that are dependent on how and where aircraft are flown. The nature and scale of these effects depends on a multitude of related factors such as an aircraft flight path on approach to and departure from the airport, the flight speed and cruise altitude, and also the path the aircraft follows while on the ground. Aviation operations can be optimized to reduce the amount of noise and emissions generated by these operations while still maintaining the efficiency of the airport system.

ASCENT research is focusing on airport surface movement, cruise altitude and speed optimization, as well as modeling rotorcraft noise abatement operating conditions and developing rotorcraft noise abatement procedures.