Airlines sign up for IATA’s turbulence technology
December 11, 2024
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says there is growing interest in its Turbulence Aware platform, with six airlines joining the initiative in 2024.
The latest participants include British Airways, Asiana Airlines, Scoot, and Singapore Airlines.
IATA’s Turbulence Aware pools anonymised turbulence data from participating airlines’ flights, delivering accurate, real-time insights. This helps pilots and dispatchers choose smoother flight paths, improving passenger comfort, reducing fuel burn, and cutting CO2 emissions.
The programme’s reach has been bolstered through recent collaborations with The Weather Company, Lufthansa Systems, PACE TXT, APiJET, BCI, and Storkjet.
These companies now integrate Turbulence Aware data into their existing systems for cockpit instruments, flight planning, and tracking.
Launched in 2018, Turbulence Aware addresses turbulence, a leading cause of in-flight injuries to passengers and crew. To date, over 25 airlines contribute to and utilise the platform, which now includes data from more than 2,600 aircraft.
In 2023 alone, it generated 38 million turbulence reports. Additionally, the data is shared with meteorological offices to enhance turbulence forecasting and with academic institutions for research.
“Making use of accurate and up to date data in Turbulence Aware helps flight crews’ efforts to avoid or at least mitigate the effects of turbulence,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
“The quality of this data improves with each new airline contributing to the platform. So the strong take up of Turbulence Aware by airlines is important. As ever, they key to improving aviation safety is working together and we look forward to welcoming more airline participants in the coming year.”
