Winds of change: Climate change will see transatlantic flights take longer

Flights from Europe to North America will take longer and nudge up airline fuel costs if climate change strengthens high altitude winds as widely expected, a study shows today. The headwind into a stronger jet stream should lengthen westbound flights by about five minutes, slightly more than the time saved in the other direction to Europe with a tailwind, it said. “We have good reason to think the jet stream is speeding up,” author Paul Williams of Reading University told Reuters of the study in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

New York-bound flights will become twice as likely to take over seven hours, suggesting that delayed arrivals will become increasingly common.

The University of Reading

If net return flight times get longer, the effect could add 2,000 hours to annual flight times every year and an extra 7.2 million gallons (33 million litres) of fuel, assuming flights over the North Atlantic stay at about 600 a day, it said. The study was based on a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which could happen in coming decades. "The bad news for passengers is that westbound flights will be battling against stronger headwinds,“ said Mr Williams. "The good news is that eastbound flights will be boosted by stronger tailwinds, but not enough to compensate for the longer westbound journeys. The net result is that roundtrip journeys will significantly lengthen.”

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