Climate change may force airlines to leave some passengers behind, study finds

Planes need more speed, or less weight, for future takeoffs

Researchers used several climate change scenarios—ranging from “sustainable development” to “fossil-fuelled development”—to measure the potential impact of rising temperatures on flights departing from 30 airports across Europe.

The list includes 25 of the continent’s busiest airports, as well as several other busy airports with notably short runways, including San Sebastián, Spain; Chios, Greece; Pantelleria, Italy; and Rome’s Ciampino Airport in Italy.

Researchers found that “a given aircraft configuration in a warmer world will require a longer distance before takeoff occurs.”

That might not be much of a problem for Madrid’s Barajas Airport, where the longest runway is 4,350 m long, but runways are far shorter at many other airports.

“If there is a limited takeoff distance (i.e. a particular runway), the maximum aircraft mass must be reduced,” the experts added.

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In other words, a warmer climate with more instances of extreme heat will likely increase the distance required for the Airbus A320 to take off by the middle of this century, and airlines operating at airports with shorter runways will have to reduce the weight of their aircraft in order to take off at all.