Fasten your seatbelt, turbulent times ahead

BREXIT and climate change are conspiring to make flying even more difficult in the coming years.

Ryanair says it might have to suspend UK flights if no early aviation deal is done as we negotiate our way out of the European Union.

Meanwhile, scientists say air travel is going to get bumpier because climate change will make strong turbulence more common.

Rollercoaster rides on flights will become more usual thanks to the effects on jet streams of a warmer world.

“Even the most seasoned frequent fliers may be alarmed at the prospect of a 149% increase in severe turbulence, which frequently hospitalises air travellers and flight attendants around the world,” concedes Dr Paul Williams, from the University of Reading.

Dr Williams also points out that “for nervous fliers even light turbulence can be distressing”.

As a nervous flier, I can vouch for that completely. Ryanair is warning that political turbulence will affect its ability to operate.

The low-cost airfares firm says that a delay in an agreement being ratified by EU nations could result in flights being halted for several months.

A single market for aviation means no commercial restrictions for airlines flying within the EU.

But a fresh deal must be secured if the UK’s airline routes to the EU can continue after Brexit, which is scheduled to take place by March 2019.

“We need somebody to take control of the process and say ‘this is what’s going to happen, this is what we’re going to do,’” says Ryanair chief financial officer Neil Sorahan.

He adds: “Nobody really knows where this is going.”

Which could also be said about the entire, disastrous Brexit process so far: a turbulent, entirely pointless thing that’s going to make life much worse. Who wants to fly anyway?