The most turbulent airports and flight routes of 2024 have been revealed, and it’s not good news if you have a flight booked in South America.
The classification has been prepared by the turbulence forecast website. turbli.comwhich analyzed around 10,000 short and long-haul routes connecting the 550 largest airports in the world.
Used ‘eddy dissipation rates’ (EDR) to generate the lists. EDR measures the intensity of turbulence at a given point: 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 of about 120 miles (200 km) in diameter and 20,000 feet (6,000 m) in height.
The 196-kilometer (121-mile) route from Mendoza International Airport, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile is rated the most turbulent in the world, with an average EDR of 24.6. That means moderate turbulence often occurs.
The second most unstable is the 660 km (410 mi) route from Córdoba, Argentina, to Santiago (EDR 20), with Mendoza to Salta (also Argentina) in third place (EDR 19).
Another Argentine route takes fourth place (Mendoza to San Carlos de Bariloche), and the first non-South American route in the top 10 is courtesy of Kathmandu in Nepal to Lhasa in Tibet (fifth), saving 128 hours of travel around the Himalayas. , but it has an EDR of 18.8.
The most turbulent North American route is from Albuquerque to Denver, Colorado (EDR 17.7/561 km), followed by Denver to Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming (EDR 17.4/653 km).
The most turbulent airports and flight routes of 2024 have been revealed, and it’s not good news if you have a flight booked in South America. Santiago airport (above) is the world’s most turbulent and the international airport from Mendoza, Argentina, to Santiago is rated the rockiest route in the world.
The bumpiest European route is from Nice, France, to Geneva, Switzerland (EDR 16/299 km), while the Oceania route with the highest average turbulence is the New Zealand route, from Christchurch to Wellington. This is a 304-kilometer (188-mile) trip with an EDR of 14. However, that’s just slight 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: from Nairobi in Kenya to Sepang in Malaysia, 7,223 km/4,488 miles away.
Meanwhile, the airports with the most potholes in the world 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 U.S. airports for turbulence are Denver (1st/EDR 17.2), followed by Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (2nd), Albuquerque (3rd), Salt Lake City (4th), Jackson (5th), Las Vegas (6th ), Vancouver (seventh), Reno (eighth), Seattle (ninth) and Boise in Idaho (10th).
Turin in Italy, with an EDR of 16.2, tops the average turbulence ranking of European airports, while the rest of the top 10 are made up of Milan (second), Geneva (third), Bergamo (fourth), Zurich (fifth ), Lyon (sixth), Nice (seventh), Basel (eighth), Barcelona (ninth) and Verona (tenth).
Turbli’s reports are likely to prove increasingly relevant to the jet set as global warming has led to an increase in the severity of turbulence, according to scientists.
Research by the University of Reading indicates that turbulence during flights is increasing; Severe turbulence has increased 55 percent since 1979.
The bumpiest route in North America is from Albuquerque to Denver (above), and the latter is also the bumpiest airport in North America.
Turin airport, above, is the most turbulent in Europe
Christchurch airport is the most turbulent, on average, in Oceania
However, you can take comfort in knowing that although turbulence can be uncomfortable and scary, it is very unlikely to cause your plane to crash.
As one long-haul Dreamliner captain who spoke to MailOnline stated: ‘In terms of what it could do to you, yes, it’s unpleasant, no-one likes being bounced like that, or very few people do, but it’s not unsafe. … Planes like to fly, they don’t like to fall from the sky, and you have to work hard to make them do it.
What can turbulence do to the fuselage?
He said: ‘Nothing. Anyway, by the time the plane’s fuselage breaks, you will already be dead.
He revealed that pilots basically have four options to deal 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 is best avoided for the comfort of passengers.” You can try flying higher (if the plane’s performance allows) or lower (although this burns more fuel and could make things worse).
“You can fly at the aircraft’s turbulence penetration speed, usually a little slower than normal cruising speed, or turn to avoid the area of turbulence if it is localized, such as near a storm.”