Turbulence on flights keeps getting worse, according to researchers, who suspect climate change and other atmospheric shifts as the likely culprits.
The bumpiest rides, though, tend to “cross mountainous regions with strong jet stream activity,” turbulence researcher Ignacio Gallego-Marcos told us in an email.
His online turbulence forecasting tool, Turbli, releases lists each year of the world’s shakiest flight routes, based on data measuring the average turbulence intensity—the technical term is Eddy Dissipation Rate (EDR)—across thousands of itineraries connecting the globe’s 550 largest airports.
Turbli’s results from 2025 are now in and, for the second year in a row, the world’s most turbulent flight route is between Mendoza, Argentina (MDZ), and Santiago, Chile (SCL).
Flying right over South America’s Andes range, the route is especially susceptible to the dreaded “mountain waves” that can cause severe turbulence downwind of high ridges.
Similarly, other flights over lofty peaks ranked highly on the list, including several “Chinese routes downstream the Tibetan plateau,” as Gallego-Marcos puts it, and, in 10th place, a U.S. itinerary: Denver International Airport (DEN) to Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) in Wyoming.
This is the first time a U.S. route has appeared on Turbli’s global top 10 for turbulent flights since the site began releasing annual reports in 2022.
Obviously, that made the Denver–Jackson Hole flight North America’s most turbulent route for the year. And evidently getting to and from Denver was also pretty bumpy for passengers going through Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ; 2nd place on the North America list); Salt Lake City (SLC; 4th); Bozeman, Montana (BZN; 5th); and Las Vegas (LAS; 9th).
Additionally, Turbli found that the Denver airport had more turbulence in its immediate vicinity than any other North American airport, and it ranked 7th among turbulent airports worldwide.
All of the regions that experienced the highest levels of turbulence in North America during 2025 are located west of the Mississippi River—in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Brings new meaning to the name “Rocky Mountains,” doesn’t it?
The world’s most turbulent flight routes in 2025
- Mendoza, Argentina MDZ) – Santiago, Chile (SCL)
- Xining, China (XNN) – Yinchuan, China (INC)
- Chengdu, China (TFU) – Xining (XNN)
- Córdoba, Argentina (COR) – Santiago (SCL)
- Santa Cruz, Bolivia (VVI) – Santiago (SCL)
- Chengdu (TFU) – Lanzhou, China (LHW)
- Mendoza (MDZ) – Salta, Argentina (SLA)
- Chengdu (CTU) – Yinchuan (INC)
- Xining (XNN) – Lhasa, Tibet (LXA)
- Denver (DEN) – Jackson, Wyoming (JAC)
North America’s most turbulent flight routes in 2025
- Denver (DEN) – Jackson, Wyoming (JAC)
- Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ) – Denver (DEN)
- Jackson (JAC) – Salt Lake City (SLC)
- Denver (DEN) – Salt Lake City (SLC)
- Bozeman, Montana (BZN) – Denver (DEN)
- Boise, Idaho (BOI) – Bozeman (BZN)
- Bozeman (BZN) – Salt Lake City (SLC)
- Albuquerque (ABQ) – Salt Lake City (SLC)
- Denver (DEN) – Las Vegas (LAS)
- Las Vegas (LAS) – Salt Lake City (SLC)
For the full rankings and methodology, go to Turbli.com.
