Airports paralyzed by torrential rains or extreme heat, flights diverted by fires, incessant delays and violent turbulence, we have lost count of the incidents that have affected planes in recent years. Aeronautics professionals must adapt to climate change, which is already having effects on air transport.
Air transport is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. But it must also urgently adapt to this climate change, which is already having significant effects on the sector throughout the world.
Flooded airports
IATA, the international air transport association, has been holding its 80th annual general meeting since June 2 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. If the 1,500 delegates welcome the return of profits with higher traffic for 2024 than pre-Covid levels, they are concerned about the repercussions of global warming on global aeronautics.
Climate change is causing more and more torrential rains. And Dubai Airport has recently paid the price. However, emblematic for its exponential development, the Emirates airport was invaded by water in mid-April. More than 2,000 flights had to be canceled.
Tracks distorted by heat
Less than a month later, the runways of Porto Alegre airport suffered unprecedented flooding in southern Brazil. The Paris airports of Roissy and Orly had to close for a few hours on May 1 due to violent storms.
Not to mention the heat. We remember that during the summer of 2022, an unprecedented heat wave in the United Kingdom disrupted flight operations, Luton airport had to close. The surface of the tracks had deformed in the heat, more than 40 degrees.
Increasingly violent turbulence
When it doesn’t rain, the climate also continues to act up, with violent turbulence, which has become more and more frequent in recent years. LNorth Africa, the Middle East and the Far East are areas at risk. Passengers on a London Singapore flight learned this the hard way on May 21, 2024. One man died and dozens of people were injured.
“With global warming, we have an intensification of the north-south temperature difference. says Mohamed Foudad, one of the Toulouse researchers, a specialist in the atmosphere of wind. “This has the effect of increasing the vertical wind shear which generates the turbulence. The problem is that this turbulence in clear weather is almost undetectable for pilots.”
To read : PLANES: Increasingly violent turbulence, how global warming challenges air transport
30% delays due to weather
“Turbulence is a safety issue, but it also costs companies millions of dollars” by causing damage to planes, specialists estimate. And if we add to this, fires, like in Canada, which generate turbulence and which must be avoided, global warming weighs very heavily on the budgets of airlines. In 2023, 30% of European flight delays were due to weather compared to 11% in 2012.
“The impacts of climate change are already being felt by many airports”explained to AFP Alexandre de Joybert, director of sustainable development at ACI Europe, which brings together 500 European airports and is currently developing a framework to help them plan their investments based on future weather developments. “We have to plan now for what will happen in 50 years.”
Solutions to find
The projects involve raised tracks in coastal areas, recalibrated rainwater evacuation systems or coatings that can better withstand heatwaves. “Any new improvement or modernization project integrates these criteria”, affirms Alexandre de Joybert. Since 2018, IATA has also adopted “Turbulence Aware”, a global database of real-time information on turbulence, fed by sensors on aircraft in flight.
The IATA association estimates the investments needed in Europe at 360 billion euros by 2040, to progress in the decarbonization of ground activities, with a goal of net zero emissions in 2050, but also to adapt airports and pathways to climate change.
