Airlines prepare for flying in hotter temps amid climate change

The extreme heat that has come with climate change is prompting airplane manufacturers to test their fleets for increasingly hotter temperatures. While travellers are used to flight cancellations in blizzards, the unpredictable storms and extreme heat of warmer months present airlines — and passengers — with some of the most challenging conditions of the year. The gradual warming of the earth that has come with climate change is causing more frequent and more severe swings in weather patterns across the globe. That means more days of extreme heat that airlines didn't have to worry about before. "Last summer was a wake-up call for us," said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines. Once the busy summer travel season was over, Feinstein said the airline approached Bombardier, the manufacturer of the regional jets that were grounded in the heat wave, to see if the planes could fly at higher temperatures. The company won that approval from US and Canadian regulatory agencies in May, said Bombardier spokeswoman. The maximum temperature at which Bombardier CRJs can fly depends on altitude, but from Phoenix, it's now around 123 degrees Fahrenheit, up from about 118. Bombardier's competitor, Brazil's Embraer has taken similar steps and its new E190 E2 regional jet, which started service this April, can operate at higher temperatures than previous models. Higher temperatures could make flying more unpleasant for travellers. A 2017 University of Reading study based on computer models found that hotter air could increase strong turbulence in the coming decades by generating instabilities in air flows at high altitudes.<br/>