London Luton Airport Suspends Flights As Heat Damages Runway

A severe heatwave is now affecting the United Kingdom, and some of the country’s infrastructures have not been able to keep up with the demands of the situation. London Luton Airport, a center for low-cost flights, was forced to suspend departures and arrivals on Monday due to a “small section” of runway lifting up due to the heat, according to a tweet from the airport’s account.

According to the BBC, the shutdown, which was resolved by 18:05 (British Summer Time), caused at least a few aircraft to be rerouted or canceled entirely.

London Luton Airport is not the only one that is having problems that can be attributed to the heat. Because of the heat, the Royal Air Force was unable to operate its Brize Norton station, which is located in Oxfordshire, as reported by CNBC. The Met Office in the United Kingdom forecast that temperatures in London would hit 39 degrees Celsius, which is equivalent to approximately 102 degrees Fahrenheit, on Monday, and it anticipates that they will be one degree hotter on Tuesday.

ℹ️ Update at 17:30 pic.twitter.com/w7JIVJUois

— London Luton Airport (@LDNLutonAirport) July 18, 2022

Additional modes of transportation are also being negatively impacted by this. Network Rail has issued a warning to the residents of the country to only travel by rail if it is absolutely necessary, and the company has slowed down and even suspended service for several train lines. The firm stated in a tweet that signaling problems in Brockenhurst were “a direct result of the hot temperatures,” and that engineers in Scotland had to install equipment to prevent electrical lines that are responsible for powering trains from sagging in the heat.

⚠️ Only travel if absolutely necessary in England and Wales today.

☀️ The @metofficeUK has issued its first red extreme heat warning, with record temperatures forecast.

Very hot weather can severely impact the railway:

➡️ https://t.co/Orv0SO9VvU#heatwaveuk pic.twitter.com/5bm05LKGcK

— Network Rail (@networkrail) July 18, 2022

Sadly, incidents of this nature are likely to continue happening in the future. Last year, runways in Brize Norton also melted, and experts suggest that the United Kingdom will have to adjust in order to prepare for a future in which heatwaves of this kind will be far more common than they are now.

In recent years, cities and countries all over the world have been experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand. This has resulted in an increase in the number of people dying from heat-related causes than is typical, an increase in the number of people being put in danger by supercharged storms, and infrastructures such as roads and runways crumpling under the heat.