In a Warming World, Keeping the Planes Running<br />Climate scientists predict that sea levels could rise by as much as six or seven feet this century, and aviation experts say<br />that even a much smaller rise could lead to more flooding at runways or terminals.<br />Climate scientists predict a global increase this century in the annual number of hot days and heat waves, and some airport planners worry<br />that climate change could push airport infrastructure to the limits of its operating capacity.<br />The cost of having a short runway in a hot place became clear to planners at Brisbane Airport in Australia, who studied climate models<br />and airlines’ financial data in 2009 while designing the airport’s second runway, said Karyn Rains, the project’s former environment manager.<br />Rains said that was mostly because larger planes would be unable to land at an 8,202-foot runway under certain hot weather conditions,<br />and would need to burn extra fuel while waiting to land at the privately owned airport’s original, 11,811-foot runway.<br />They discovered that because of an expected spike in the number of annual 86-plus-degree days in Brisbane, airlines would<br />be forced to spend more than $79 million per year by 2035 if the second runway were 8,202 feet, rather than 10,826 feet.<br />In Hong Kong, officials say that a project to build a third airport runway on soon-to-be reclaimed land was influenced by climate<br />and sea-level projections made in 2014 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
