A study commissioned by the turbulence monitoring website Turbli has revealed which flight route is the most turbulent in the world.
According to the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), turbulence is “the movement of air that usually cannot be seen and often occurs unexpectedly.”
It can occur under various conditions during a flight, including “atmospheric pressure, jet streams, air around mountains, cold or warm fronts, or storms,” and it can happen even when the sky is clear.
The Turbli study analyzed data from 10,000 flights connecting the world’s 550 largest airports to create a ranking of the most turbulent air routes worldwide in 2025.
Using an eddy dissipation rate (EDR), the routes were classified as follows: light (0–20), moderate (20–40), moderate to severe (40–60), severe (60–80), and extreme (80–100).
As a result, Turbli found that the most turbulent flight route in the world is the connection between Governor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport in Mendoza, Argentina, and Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile.
The 195 km route lasts just one hour and received an average turbulence rating of 22.983 out of 100.
In second place was a domestic route in China, from Xining Caojiabao International Airport to Yinchuan Hedong International Airport. The 435 km journey takes just over one hour, with a turbulence index of 18.935.
Third place went to the flight from Chengdu Tianfu to Xining Caojiabao, in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai, respectively. This 724 km flight lasts just under two hours and received a turbulence index of 18.758.
Only one route in the United States made the top 10. In tenth place is the flight from Denver International Airport in Colorado to Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming. The flight covers just over 640 km and lasts only an hour and a half, but its average turbulence level is 18.18.
This ranking makes it the most turbulent route in North America. The other seven most turbulent routes on the continent are also located in the same region.
Photo: Unsplash. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
