If you're not a fan of turbulence, you might want to avoid flying near the Rockies.
Of the 10 most turbulent North American flight routes in 2024, eight featured Denver or Salt Lake City, according to findings by Turbli, a "turbulence forecast tool for the curious or fearful flyer."
Turbli said it evaluated turbulence "along available flight tracks recorded during the year," and found the most turbulent of roughly 10,000 routes flown worldwide was between Mendoza, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile. It registered an average "eddy dissipation rate," or edr, of 24.684 for the 122-mile route, which connotes "moderate" turbulence. Six of the 10 most turbulent routes worldwide in 2024 involved either Mendoza or Santiago.
In North America, last year's most turbulent route was from Albuquerque, N.M., to Denver, which registered an average edr of 17.751 for the nearly 350-mile flight. Four of the five most turbulent North American routes involved the "Mile High City."
"There has been a definite increase in clear air turbulence on a global basis by 55% over the past four decades," said Howard Diamond, Director of the Atmospheric Sciences and Modeling Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Air Resources Laboratory.
"Given that very well-studied trend it is likely that on an overall basis that such events in 2025 would be similar in frequency to what was experienced in 2024," Diamond added. "However, I really cannot speak to specific flight routes as there are multiple variables involved."
Some airlines have lately made some changes to their practices in response to turbulence-related issues in the sky—or the possibility of them.
Last May, a Singapore Airlines flight from London to the Southeast Asian city-state hit severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand. One passenger died and more than 100 required medical attention, and the carrier subsequently reviewed its "turbulence management protocols," Singapore Airlines said in a statement to Investopedia.
After this "safety time-out," the airline "reverted to standard in-flight service procedures" on Aug. 1. The carrier's pilots "will continue to decide to either suspend or continue with the in-flight service when the seat belt sign is switched on, depending on their assessment of weather and operational conditions."
Singapore Airlines added that "hot beverages, including soup, will not be served when the seat belt sign is switched on."
And Southwest Airlines (LUV) last month moved to end cabin service at 18,000 feet instead of 10,000 feet."Nothing is more important to Southwest Airlines than the safety of our customers and employees," a spokesman said.
UPDATE—This article has been updated with Singapore Airlines comments.
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