For frequent fliers and casual travelers alike, flight delays and cancellations can throw a wrench into well-laid plans. Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, is issuing a wake-up call to passengers: brace yourselves for more turbulence ahead. But this time, the turbulence isn’t coming from within the aircraft – it’s coming from our changing climate.
Speaking at a recent event, Kirby predicted that as global temperatures rise, extreme weather events will become more frequent, leading to inevitable disruptions in air travel. “More heat in the atmosphere, thermodynamics 101 — we’re going to have more thunderstorms,” Kirby explained, foreshadowing an era where “irregular operations events” become the norm.
The manifestations of climate change, from increasingly ferocious hurricanes to smoke from rampant wildfires, are already affecting air travel. Airport tarmacs are even buckling under extreme heat. The aviation industry must now confront these challenging realities.
United Airlines faced this firsthand when unexpected thunderstorms in the New York area resulted in thousands of flight cancellations leading up to Independence Day weekend. Passengers found themselves in limbo, while the airline scrambled to manage the situation, offering stranded travelers 30,000 miles and flight attendants triple-pay as compensation.
The storm of criticism didn’t stop there. Kirby found himself in hot water for chartering a private jet during the same week. The CEO later expressed regret for his decision, acknowledging its insensitivity towards affected customers and United employees.
Notably, Kirby drew attention to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) shortage of air traffic controllers in the New York City area as a contributing factor to United’s struggles, especially at its Newark hub. However, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded by suggesting that United needed to address its “internal issues”.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Garth Thompson, a United pilot and union chair, who believed poor planning by United Airlines’ executives to be at the heart of the flight delays in June.
While Kirby’s attempt to attribute these delays to external factors, such as the FAA and weather conditions, may seem like deflection, his overarching message rings true: The aviation industry needs to prepare for a future where climate change introduces new and unprecedented operational challenges. This includes not only upgrading infrastructure to withstand extreme weather but also improving internal processes to ensure smooth operations despite external adversities.
In a world warming at an alarming rate, it’s high time airlines gear up to navigate the stormy skies of climate change. For entrepreneurs and investors alike, this is a signal to look beyond immediate operational issues and consider the larger environmental shifts that will shape the future of air travel.