From Chile to Japan, these flight paths suffer from the worst turbulence in the world

The deadly turbulence on a Singapore Airlines Ltd flight. en route from London to Singapore has put the spotlight on the world’s most unstable air routes.

A British man was killed and seven other people seriously injured after Singapore Air flight SQ321 encountered severe turbulence as it entered Thai airspace on Tuesday, causing an emergency landing in Bangkok.

Although the most turbulent flights of all connect Santiago, Chile, to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, there are similarly bumpy rides around the world, according to the turbli database. Flights from Tokyo dominate the list of the toughest long-haul flights.

Strong turbulence occurs when air currents converge at significantly different speeds. According to the turbli website, this is usually found at the boundaries of jet streams, over mountains, and in certain cloud storms.

For example, the turbulence on the Santiago-Santa Cruz route is caused by the winds from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean that flow almost perpendicular to the Andes. The equator is also a known area for turbulence due to strong updrafts and thunderstorms, Turbli said. Japan experiences high levels of mountain- and ocean-induced turbulence.

The turbli website produced its rankings by analyzing 150,000 routes using data from British and US government meteorological agencies.

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