The most turbulent airports and flight routes of 2024 have been revealed – and it’s not good news if you’ve booked a flight in South America.
The ranking was compiled by the turbulence prediction website turbli.comwhich analyzed approximately 10,000 short- and long-haul routes connecting the 550 largest airports in the world.
It used ‘eddy dissipation rates’ (EDR) to generate the lists. EDR measures the intensity of turbulence at a given location – 0-20 is mild, 20-40 is moderate, 40-80 is severe and 80-100 is extreme. For each airport, the average turbulence was calculated over a volume approximately 120 miles (200 km) in diameter and 20,000 feet (6,000 m) high.
The 121-mile (196 km) route from Mendoza International Airport, Argentina, to Santiago in Chile is considered the most turbulent in the world, with an average EDR of 24.6. This means moderate turbulence occurs frequently.
The second shakiest is the 660 km (410 mi) route from Córdoba, Argentina, to Santiago (EDR 20), with Mendoza to Salta (also Argentina) coming in third (EDR 19).
Another Argentine route comes in fourth (Mendoza to San Carlos de Bariloche), with the first non-South American route in the top 10 coming courtesy of Kathmandu in Nepal to Lhasa in Tibet (fifth), which is a 128- hour’s drive around the Himalayas. , but has an EDR of 18.8.
The most turbulent North American route is Albuquerque to Denver, Colorado (EDR 17.7/561 km), followed by Denver to Jackson Hole Airport Wyoming (EDR 17.4/653km).
The most turbulent airports and flight routes of 2024 have been revealed – and it’s not good news if you’ve booked a flight in South America. Santiago Airport (above) is the most turbulent in the world and Mendoza International Airport, Argentina, to Santiago is ranked as the world’s rockiest route
The most turbulent European route is Nice, France to Geneva, Switzerland (EDR 16/299 km), while the Oceania route with the highest average turbulence is in New Zealand – Christchurch to Wellington. This is a 304 km (188 mi) journey with an EDR of 14. However, this is only mild turbulence.
In second place is Brisbane to Sydney (EDR 14/750 km).
Turbli.com reveals that the rockiest long-distance route has an EDR of 15.5 – Nairobi in Kenya to Sepang in Malaysia, 7,223 km/4,488 miles away.
Meanwhile, the world’s busiest airports are Santiago (No.1/EDR 23), Mendoza (second/EDR 22), Salta in Argentina (third/EDR 20), Kathmandu (fourth/EDR 18.6) and Lhasa (fifth/18.1).
The top 10 US airports for turbulence are Denver (first/EDR 17.2), followed by Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (second), Albuquerque (third), Salt Lake City (fourth), Jackson (fifth), Las Vegas (sixth), Vancouver (seventh), Reno (eighth), Seattle (ninth) and Boise in Idaho (10th).
Turin in Italy, with an EDR of 16.2, tops the European airports average turbulence ranking, with the rest of the top 10 made up of Milan (second), Geneva (third), Bergamo (fourth), Zurich (fifth ), Lyon (sixth), Nice (seventh), Basel (eighth), Barcelona (ninth) and Verona (10th).
Turbli’s reporting is likely to be increasingly relevant to jet fighters as global warming has caused an increase in the severity of turbulence, according to scientists.
Research conducted by the University of Reading suggests that turbulence during flights is on the rise, with severe turbulence increasing by 55 per cent since 1979.
The bumpiest North American route is Albuquerque to Denver (above) — and the latter is also the rockiest airport in North America
Turin airport, above, is the most turbulent in Europe
Christchurch Airport is on average the most turbulent in Oceania
However, you can take comfort in knowing that although turbulence can be uncomfortable and scary, it is extremely unlikely to crash your plane.
As a long-haul Dreamliner captain who spoke to MailOnline said: ‘In terms of what it can do to you, yes it’s unpleasant, nobody likes bouncing up and down like that, or very few people do, but it’s not unsafe. Airplanes like to fly, they don’t like to fall out of the sky, and you have to try pretty hard to get them to do that.’
What can turbulence do to the airframe?
He said, ‘Nothing. By the time the airframe breaks, you’ll be dead anyway.’
He revealed that pilots basically have four options for dealing with turbulence.
He said: ‘You can grin and bear it – the aircraft is more than capable of withstanding the loads associated with turbulence – although severe turbulence can be quite uncomfortable and best avoided for passenger comfort. You can try to fly higher – if the performance of the aircraft allows – or lower – although this burns more fuel and can make things worse.
‘You can fly at the aircraft’s turbulence penetration speed – usually a bit slower than normal cruise speed or turn to avoid the area of turbulence if it is localized, such as near a thunderstorm.’
