WITH the mercury soaring in the United Kingdom due to a summer heatwave, a Twitter post has gone viral stating that flights were diverted from Luton Airport earlier this week after part of a runway literally melted due to the extreme weather. Is this true?
VERDICT:
TRUE
In a Twitter post on its official account on Monday (July 18), London Luton Airport said that a “surface defect” was identified on one of its runways due to high temperatures and added that immediate repair work was underway.
Following the post which went up at approximately 4.22pm (UK time/11.22pm Malaysian time), departures were cancelled and several pending arrivals were diverted to alternate airports such as Gatwick, Stansted, Southend, and Birmingham.
The damage occurred as the UK's Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning, as temperatures were anticipated to be as high as 41 degrees Celsius by Tuesday (July 19).
A comparative check on the website timeanddate.com showed that the temperature at Luton ranged from 34 to 36 degrees Celsius between noon and 5pm on Monday.
By contrast, the temperature range measured at the same equivalent time at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang was between 31 and 35 degrees Celsius.
Sources:
2.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/extreme-heat-in-uk-disrupts-air-travel-melts-airport-runway/
3.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-62212385
4.https://www.thedrive.com/news/flights-halted-after-uk-heat-wave-melts-london-luton-airport-runway
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