Climate change threatens to make severe aviation disruption more frequent, experts warn

Aviation risk consultant Tim Atkinson and other industry experts warned in September 2026 that increasingly unstable weather driven by climate change poses a growing threat to flight operations, following an incident in June when 900 flights to and from London were delayed by up to 11 hours due to severe thunderstorms. Atkinson warned that rapid climate change could simultaneously close all of London's major airports — Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, and Stansted — creating scenarios where aircraft with dwindling fuel reserves might struggle to find alternative landing sites. The BBC's report explains that for every degree of global warming, the atmosphere can hold approximately 7% more moisture, increasing the probability of the convective thunderstorms that disrupt airspace.