The 10 most turbulent plane routes in the world

Turbulence can be a scary thing on an airplane. A flight from London to Singapore recently saw one passenger die and dozens of others get injured. Zooming out, the turbulence tracking site Turbli went over its weather-based data and parsed the quakiest routes the world over for 2023.

The site ranked the flight paths based on their average eddy dissipation rates (EDR), a measure of how quickly air disturbances work themselves out of the atmosphere. An EDR of 15 is considered “light” and an EDR of 45 is considered “severe,” though larger aircraft are less likely to be affected at a given level. So if a trip has an average EDR of 15, flyers should expect a good bit of shaking at minimum. All the ranked journeys fly over or near mountain ranges, which often exacerbate turbulence.

Check out which global routes are the most turbulent.

10. MXP to ZRH

The trip from Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy to Zurich Airport in Switzerland is 203 km (126 miles), and has an average EDR of 16. The route passes over the Italian Alps and the Swiss Alps.

9. XIY to CKG

The trip from Xi’an Xianyang International Airport in China to Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport in China is 561 km (349 miles) and also has an eddy dissipation rate of 16. The route passes over the Qin Mountains.

8. XIY to CTU

The trip from Xi’an Xianyang International Airport in China to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in China is 624 km (388 miles) and has an eddy dissipation rate of 16.3. The route also passes over the Qin Mountains.

7. KIX to SDJ

The trip from Kansai International Airport in Japan to Sendai Airport in Japan is 655 km (407 miles) and also has an eddy dissipation rate of 16.3. The route passes over the Japanese Alps.

6. LHW to XIY

The trip from Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport in China to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport in China is 519 km (322 miles) and also has an eddy dissipation rate of 16.3. The route also passes over the Qin Mountains.

5. MXP to GVA

The trip from Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy to Geneva International Airport in Switzerland is 214 km (133 miles) and has an eddy dissipation rate of 16.4. The route also passes over the Italian Alps and the Swiss Alps.

4. NGO to SDJ

The trip from Chubu Centrair International Airport in Japan to Sendai Airport in Japan is 517 km (321 miles) and has an eddy dissipation rate of 16.6. The route also passes over the Japanese Alps.

3. LHW to CTU

The trip from Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport in China to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in China is 661 km (411 miles) and has an eddy dissipation rate of 16.8. The route also passes over the Qin Mountains.

2. ALA to FRU

The trip from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan to Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan is 210 km (130 miles) and has an eddy dissipation rate of 17.5. The route passes near some of the Alatau mountain ranges.

1. SCL to VVI

The trip from Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Chile to Viru Viru International Airport in Bolivia is 1,905 km (1,184 miles), and has an average eddy dissipation rate of 17.6. The route passes over the Andes Mountains.