Here Are the 10 Most Turbulent Flight Routes Worldwide

Turbulence during flights can be unnerving for even the most seasoned or frequent travelers.

And the reality is that some flight routes around the world are far more prone to a bumpy ride than others, according to a recent report from Turbli, an interactive website designed to help travelers obtain information about potential turbulence on upcoming flights.

Topping the list of the planet’s 10 most turbulent routes for 2023 is the 1,900-mile flight path from Santiago, Chile (SCL) to Viru Viru International Airport in Bolivia. Coming in second meanwhile, is the 210-mile route between Almaty in Kazakhstan and its capital, Bishkek.

The majority of the additional routes among the top 10 most turbulent worldwide are in China and Japan.

Third on the ranking, for instance, is the 661-mile flight between Lanzhou and Chengdu in China. Next up is the domestic flight path from Japan’s Chubu Centrair International Airport to Sendai Airport, which is located in the city of Natori, Miyagi in Japan.

Rounding out the top five is a European flight route between Italy’s Milan Malpensa airport and Geneva in Switzerland. A Milan-based flight path (between the Italian city and Zurich) also lands on the worst turbulence list in the number 10 slot.

The remaining flight paths that were ranked among the 10 most turbulent worldwide include:

• Lanzhou (LHW) to Xianyang (XIY)
• Osaka (KIX) to Sendai (SDJ)
• Xianyang (XIY) to Chengdu (CTU)
• Xianyang (XIY) to Chongqing (CKG)
  
  

The annual ranking is based on Turbli’s historical database of turbulence. Some 150,000 routes were analyzed to come up with the 2023 ranking.

It’s important to remember however, that turbulence typically does not pose a serious threat to commercial aircraft.

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