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Aired April 9, 2013 - 12:30   ET

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And, of course, we are talking about traveling, as well, across Europe. Might want to tighten your seat belt a little bit.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hold on to your drinkies. There could be a lot more turbulence ahead for flights across the Atlantic.

A new study says flights between North America and Europe are already experiencing stronger headwinds and guess what? It's only going to get worse.

MALVEAUX: All right, so let's ask Richard Quest in London about this. You fly all the time, yes? What -- are you ready?

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNN INTERNATIONAL'S "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Now, let's get rid of the fact and the fiction here.

The survey says that because of global warming the amount of disturbance in the so-called jet stream is going to increase. And that is what is going to make it more turbulent, but it is not going to happen tonight or indeed next week.

They're talking about a time period of the middle of the century when this is going to be anywhere between 40 percent to 160 percent more turbulence.

Now if my camera just widens out a bit, I can explain if we've got a second -- I can explain exactly how this happens.

Imagine this is the sort of the area where you're flying on and in comes your plane at about 31,000 feet. What happens at the moment, of course, is the convection and it gets hit by the jet stream if it's going eastbound or it's in headwinds if it's going westbound.

And what they say is that this bit is going to become much more turbulent which is why the plane will enjoy, or experience, a lot more turbulence as it is flying.

Planes are built for turbulence. Let's get that clear. Planes are built for turbulence, but it will certainly make for a more rocky ride in the future.

HOLMES: And in 40 years, and you are the aviation man -- he's a man of many talents, as well as props, you know. He -- you will probably be able to answer this.

In 40 years or something, aren't we going to be flying sort of almost in space?

QUEST: No. Does that answer your question?

HOLMES: That was the shortest answer you've ever given.

QUEST: No. Well, look, no, they're not, because of the cost involved, the fuel involved, the whole -- even the concept of (inaudible), or ballistic flying, is still a long way off.

Remember we haven't even got supersonic flight. It is all about weight versus fuel burn and all these sort of issues, so we are a very long way off anything like that.

And, remember, the planes that we are seeing coming online now, the A380, the A350, which will be coming, the 787, which may be flying within the next 30 days or two months, these planes will still be around in 10, 15, 20 years time.

So we are already seeing the generation of aircraft that will be susceptible, perhaps, to these new -- I like doing this -- these new, much more strong turbulence across the Atlantic.

HOLMES: He does.

MALVEAUX: Have you ever noticed?

HOLMES: Hit your bell. I bet you probably don't have the bell there.

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Chad here. Thank you, Richard.

I want to bring in Chad Myers here to talk about the science behind all of it. So what do we know? Is this connected to climate change?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That is what they are putting it together with, and let me explain why that makes sense, and, if this climate change model, works why this all happens.

We're talking about clear air turbulence. You're flying along. There is not a cloud in the sky. All of the sudden, the plane drops or it goes up. It's because the jet stream's going across, like Richard said. But there are little eddies in the jet stream, little, little loops, up here, maybe even up here, that would make you drop or go up, go down, depending on if you get into one of those eddies. The jet stream currently is from about New York City right on back into central parts of France. There you go. That is where the jet stream is now without global warming.

The forecast for this model says the jet stream will move to the north with global warming because there will be more warm air down here, and if you move the jet stream to the north, well, guess what? That's where the planes fly. So if the planes are flying in the new location of the jet stream, therefore the planes will get into a bumpier flight.

What they are going to have to do, it will take longer, it will burn more fuel. If the jet stream is eventually here, the planes will have to fly farther to the north or farther to the south to stay out of that bumpiness. That's the whole kit and caboodle in a nutshell. The jet stream is going to move where the planes are flying now.

HOLMES: Yeah, and that's a longer distance, so it will be more fuel. Everything will be more expensive.Chad, thanks very much. Richard Quest, still there. Good to see you both. Thanks.