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Heatwave melts British airport runway, causes delays and diversions
‘Runway has melted’: UK’s largest air force base and London Luton airport halt flights as heatwave bakes Britain
- RAF Brize Norton and London’s Luton airport halt flights after reporting runway problems
- Britain is bracing for record temperatures as a dangerous heatwave blankets the country
Britain’s Brize Norton Air Force base and London Luton Airport halted flights on Monday as a dangerous heatwave hit the UK.
The Royal Air Force shut down operations at its Brize Norton base because the “runway has melted,” as Sky News first reported.
On Friday, the UK declared a national emergency, warning of potentially record-breaking temperatures on July 18 and 19. For the first time, the country’s national weather service has forecasted temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The UK’s current record temperature is 38.7 degrees, recorded in Cambridge during the summer of 2019.
“During this period of extreme temperature flight safety remains the RAF’s top priority, so aircraft are using alternative airfields in line with a long-established plan. This means there is no impact on RAF operations,” The UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Twitter.
Meanwhile, London’s Luton Airport also experienced flight interruptions due to the hot weather.
“Following today’s high temperatures, a surface defect was identified on the runway,” the airport said in a statement on Twitter. “Engineers were called immediately to site and repair works are currently in progress to resume operations as soon as possible.”
According to Flight Aware, 17 per cent of flights departing from London Luton airport have been delayed thus far.
The Royal Air Force halted flights in and out of its Cranwell military base on Monday and Tuesday last week, a military source told Sky News, adding that tar has been sticking to RAF officials’ boots and aircraft wheels since summer began.
Extremely hot weather has made this summer’s flight chaos even worse. On top of runway damages, high temperatures can decrease the weight capacity of planes – forcing aircraft to unload luggage and even passengers in order to safely take off.
One passenger told Insider that Air Canada “begged” 25 people to switch their flight after boarding in Denver because the plane was “too heavy” to take off in the triple-digit heat.
