According to a study at Columbia University, rising temperatures are having a harmful impact on air travel.
New research suggests that the earth’s rising temperatures, heat waves and extreme weather will have a huge impact on how airplanes travel in the near future.
According to The Verge, climate change will make flying more expensive, and require big changes to how airports and planes operate.
A group of researchers at Columbia University conducted a study that was published in the journal Climatic Change. It estimated the daily temperatures based on the World Climate Research Program’s models, and how that would impact on performance models for five commercial airplanes that operate out of 19 airports.
According to The Verge, the researchers found that 10 – 30 per cent of flights will need to be much lighter if they are expected to take off in the hottest parts of the day.
They added that runways at airports will need to be longer, and technology be improved to increase engine performance. Heavier planes will also have to fly when it is cooler – which may be unpractical, especially for hot airport destinations like Abu Dhabi or Qatar.
“However, even with adaptation, potentially including new aircraft designs, takeoff performance will still likely be lower than it would have been given no climate change due to both the effects of reduced air density and degraded engine performance and thrust at higher temperatures,” the researchers wrote, per The Verge.
“This fact is true of all climate impacts: even if they can be adapted to, they still have a cost.”
They conclude that the optimal temperatures for aircraft to take off and fly are in cooler temperatures. The hotter and drier an environment is, the faster a plane will need to go to lift off.
Hence, airports will need to extend the length of their runways in time, which could turn into very costly projects for all airports, built and under construction.
