How Climate Change Is Affecting Flight Delays

Rising temperature due to climate change is likely to impact our transportation system, evidenced by many flights being cancelled in Phoenix last week. Flights could not take off and planes had to be grounded because of a heat wave.

Read: Is Climate Change Real? EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Wants Scientists To Debate It On TV

Why and how does rising temperature cause flight delays?

Steadily rising temperatures with constant air pressure causes decline in air density. This results in less lift being generated by airplane wings at a given airspeed, causing longer takeoff time, resulting in flight delays according to a study titled “Climatic Change: The impacts of rising temperatures on aircraft takeoff performance.”

Airline schedules are constructed on the assumption that every flight will depart and arrive as planned. As take off time increases because of rising temperatures, it might increase costs substantially for airlines. The study says both mid-sized and large size aircraft will be affected. Airports which have short runways and those located at high elevations will be impacted most.

To ensure timely takeoff, future planes need to have more weight restrictions and even have lighter frames. The researchers behind the study —E.D. Coffel, T.R. Thompson and R.M. Horten— have created a model of weight restrictions, and its impact on different airports and planes.

The model indicated that 10-30 percent annual flights will have to shed 0.5-4 percent of their total payload in the near future, which may even make flights more expensive and will affect aviation operations around the world.

Rising temperatures might also force aviation companies to create better designed planes and airport, adjust airline schedules and increase runway lengths.

Climate change related shifts might even cause infrastructure disruptions. Precipitation i.e. the condensation of rain, hail and snow on the ground, will increase because of climate change and might result in congestion and even accidents, according to another study titled “The impact of climate change and weather on transport: An overview of empirical findings” by Dutch researcher Mark J. Koetse.

In addition to rising temperatures, climate change also causes a strengthening of atmospheric jet streams — the strongest winds in the atmosphere. This is expected to cause an increase in air turbulence, which will be difficult to detect even by satellites and radars or pilots. This might not just lead to bumpier flights, it could also cause journey times to increase and also create a higher consumption of fuel and emissions, according to a study titled “Intensification of winter transatlantic aviation turbulence in response to climate change” by atmospheric scientists Paul Williams and Manoj M. Joshi.

Read: Climate Change Effects: Your Airplane Ride Will Probably Get More Bumpy

Among all modes of transportation aviation is highly vulnerable to climate change because of its fixed infrastructure and susceptibility to disruptive weather. In aviation, therefore, climate change presents both an operational and business risk.

Since aviation causes an increase in global warming, it partly contributes to climate change. Now it is the turn of climate change to bring about a change in the way the aviation industry operates.