Too Hot to Fly? Climate Change May Take a Toll on Air Travel

Too Hot to Fly? Climate Change May Take a Toll on Air TravelBut even though bigger planes weren’t affected, Mr. Feinstein said, American decided to give passengers on any flight to or from Phoenix between 3 p.m.and 6 p.m. — the hottest part of the day — the option to change their trips.Jet stream patterns influence flight routes, travel timeand airline fuel economy because long-distance air corridors are designed to take maximum advantage of prevailing weather patterns, which give a tailwind to eastbound flights and a headwind to westbound ones.The study examined conditions at four airports: La Guardia; Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which alsohas relatively shorter runways; Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; and Denver International Airport.He said a stronger jet stream resulted in less stable air, so turbulence could become morelikely even if there are no storms, something that is known as “clear air” turbulence.Dr. Williams pointed out that from Jan. 8 to Jan. 12, 2015, a strong jet stream forced some flights from Europe to the United States to make unscheduledrefueling stops on the East Coast before reaching their final destinations, even though they should have had enough fuel to make it all the way.Because there is so little data available and so many factors at play — aircraft design, airport sizeand location, the weight of passengers and cargo, to name just a few — it can be hard to attribute any one service disruption to global warming.