New Zealand's 'most turbulent' airport named.

The country’s most turbulent airport has been named, and for the second year running Christchurch has topped the ranking. Turbulence tracking website Turbli has released its annual analysis of the most turbulent worldwide airports and flight routes. Turbulence is measured using eddy dissipation rate (EDR), “which is an aircraft independent unit that represents the speed at which turbulent structures break down and dissipate their energy into heat”.

The turbulence levels are light (0-20), moderate (20-40), strong (40-60), severe (60-80) and extreme (80-100), and Turbli adds: “The ranking tables might seem to have too low levels, but this is because they are yearly averages.”

Christchurch was crowned number one, not only in NZ but also Oceania, with an EDR of 15.676. followed by Hobart (14.748), Sydney (14.515) and then Wellington next with 14.476.

Auckland is the only other Kiwi airport in the Oceania top 10 at number eight with an EDR of 13.13. The analysis shows New Zealand had a more turbulent 2025 than the previous year.

Turbli co-founder Ignacio Gallego Marcos said the “slight increase” was “likely due to the atmospheric transition from El Niño to Neutral/La Niña conditions”.

“In 2024, the jet stream was positioned further north, and most turbulence was being generated north of the main islands. By contrast, in 2025, the jet stream moved poleward (further south), and its weakened state caused it to become much ‘wavier’.

“These waves frequently broke or ‘meandered’ directly over New Zealand, effectively moving the zone of turbulence generation.” He said the instability, combined with warmer air from the tropics, “created a slightly more disorganised and bumpy atmosphere above New Zealand compared to 2024”.

The most turbulent route in the region is Wellington to Christchurch with an EDR of 15.092. Auckland-Nadi 14.37, Auckland-Port Vila (14.303) and Auckland-Brisbane (14.191) also cracked the top 10.

Worldwide, Chile’s capital Santiago was the most turbulent airport with an EDR of 21.446 and Argentina’s Mendoza was just behind. Unsurprisingly, the journey between them was the most turbulent route.

All of the routes in the top 10 cross mountainous regions with strong jet stream activity, something which significantly increases the likelihood of turbulence.


Oceania airports with the highest average turbulence in 2025:

1. Christchurch
2. Hobart
3. Sydney
4. Wellington
5. Brisbane
6. Melbourne
7. Adelaide
8. Auckland
9. Perth
10. Nuku’alofa

The airports with the highest average turbulence in 2025:

1. Santiago, Chile
2. Mendoza, Argentina
3. Salta, Argentina
4. Xining, China
5. Lanzhou, China
6. Kathmandu, Nepal
7. Denver, US
8. Lhasa, China
9. Bozeman, Us
10. Kabul, Afghanistan

Oceania routes with the highest average turbulence in 2025:

1. Christchurch (CHC) - Wellington (WLG)
2. Brisbane (BNE) - Sydney (SYD)
3. Melbourne (MEL) - Sydney (SYD)
4. Auckland (AKL) - Nadi (NAN)
5. Brisbane (BNE) - Hobart (HBA)
6. Auckland (AKL) - Port Vila (VLI)
7. Brisbane (BNE) - Melbourne (MEL)
8. Nadi (NAN) - Sydney (SYD)
9. Auckland (AKL) - Brisbane (BNE)
10. Port Vila (VLI) - Sydney (SYD)

Full story sourced from here
New Zealand's 'most turbulent' airport named. And no, it's not Wellington | Stuff