Obstructing flights turbulence are becoming an increasing problem in Europe – media reports. Due to bad weather, the number of delays is increasing and pilots are having more and more problems choosing the optimal route.
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Planes are delayed due to the weather
According to the Italian daily “Corriere Della Sera”, in 2023 compared to the previous period the number of flight delays caused by bad weather increased by almost 1.5 million minutes.
It was supposed to be the worst in this respect in July last year. This month bad weather conditions were responsible for 44%. delays – writes the newspaper.
Eurocontrol data shows that in 2023 in Europe 10.2 million flights took place passenger cars (compared to 9.2 million a year earlier). Of this number, 7 out of 10 flights were completed within the scheduled time, i.e. within a tolerance of 15 minutes. The punctuality rate was 71%. (compared to 71.3% in 2022).
The total sum of delays last year was 18.4 million minutes, or almost 307,000. hours. On average, this works out to 1.8 minutes per flight. A year earlier, this average was 1.7 minutes.
The weather delays and groundes us
Just Due to bad weather, the total delays increased from 4 million minutes in 2022 to 5.4 million minutes a year later. This added half a minute to the average journey.
Poor air conditions not only delayed ongoing flights, but also led to delays at airports. Due to bad conditions, the planes had to wait until the weather improved. Delays due to this reached 2.4 million minutes.
Altogether unfavorable conditions resulted delays reaching 7.8 million minutes. According to Eurocontrol data, this is an increase of 95%. compared to 2022. This means that there were almost twice as many delays due to worse weather.
The International Airlines Association IATA points out that delays are caused by bad weather increased from 11 percent in 2012 to almost 30 percent. in 2023.
According to the pilots interviewed by “Corriere Della Sera”, the weather in Europe is getting worse and makes it more difficult to fly in such conditions. Frequent thunderstorms, violent disturbances and very strong turbulence disturb the smooth flight.
Aircraft captains also point out that in the last few years There were problems with predicting the weather “in relation to the area and period” and that winters are dry, there are snowfalls in March and more unexpected storms appear in spring and summer – writes “Corriere Della Sera”.
More and more turbulence due to global warming
Among other factors, they contribute to the increasingly frequent turbulence climate changes – results from scientific research. According to scholars from the University of Reading in England Turbulences occurring “in clear skies”, i.e. those that are most difficult for pilots to avoid, are occurring more and more often.
This type of turbulence occurs where the sky is clear and appears completely safe. They are caused by sudden changes in wind speed and direction at altitudes above 4.5 km.
As the temperature increases, the jet stream experiences greater changes in wind direction – explained the study's co-author, Prof. Paul Williams. According to English scientists, the number of serious turbulences in the period from 1979 to 2020 on the popular North Atlantic route increased by 55%.
It is estimated that only due to turbulence aviation industry only in USA loses between 150 and 500 million dollars a year.
Źródło: “Corriere Della Sera”, BBC, Eurocontrol.int
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