As the country sweltered through one of the many heatwaves of a baking summer in late June, towering thunderclouds were gathering over the south of England and across much of northern Europe. It was a Saturday, and with the holiday season getting under way, thousands of passengers were heading to London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports to catch flights abroad. It was always going to be a very busy day.
What followed, however, was chaos for travellers. As air traffic controllers struggled to route aircraft around the storms, airspace became heavily congested and many planes due to fly were simply forced to wait on the ground. In the end, some 900 flights to and from both airports were delayed, some by up to 11 hours.
Dozens more were cancelled. At airports across Europe, passengers expecting to fly into London also faced long waits and uncertainty. The weather in the UK may now have cooled, and passengers may soon forget their experiences.
But some within the industry believe what happened in June should be seen as a warning. The timing in this case was clearly unlucky. But there are concerns that such incidents are only going to become more common as the effects of climate change mount up around the world and weather systems are likely to become increasingly unstable, making disruption more likely and adding to costs for airlines, airports and travellers.
Tim Atkinson, an airline risk consultant and former pilot, says the very crowded skies over the UK and northern Europe mean the region is particularly exposed. He thinks there is a real risk, for example, that all of London's airports could be affected by storms at the same time, potentially with major consequences in the air and on the ground. "What we're seeing now is very rapid climate change," he says.
"We're going from the kind of weather activity which takes out an airport, and which the system kind of copes with… to a situation where, with very little predictability, it would be possible to lose all of the London airports from real-time operation quite swiftly and with little notice". Such a scenario, he thinks, would make the disruption for passengers caused by the incident in June seem relatively minor – and could even put lives at risk. For controllers at National Air Traffic Services's (NATS) main control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, thunderstorms are a major preoccupation.
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