The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has revealed interest in its Turbulence Aware Platform continues to grow, with six airlines having joined in 2024.
The platform, created in 2018, aims to help airlines reduce the impact of turbulence, which is a leading cause of injuries to passengers and crew.
The latest recruits to the platform, which include Asiana Airlines, British Airways, Scoot and Singapore Airlines, take the number of members to more than 25.
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Iata director general Willie Walsh said: “As ever, the key to improving aviation safety is working together and we look forward to welcoming more airline participants in the coming year.”
A British man died on a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore in May after extreme turbulence caused the aircraft to drop 178 feet in less than five seconds.
Iata said managing turbulence would “remain at the forefront of aviation safety and efficiency, given the expected rise in demand for air travel, coupled with shifting weather patterns”.
The platform gathers anonymous data from flights operated by participating airlines, enabling pilots and dispatchers to choose optimal flight paths that avoid turbulence and maximise fuel efficiency. This also helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Over the past year, the platform has been boosted by agreements with The Weather Company, Lufthansa Systems, PACE TXT, APiJET, BCI and Storkjet.
These companies, which already provided “data solutions” for cockpit instruments, flight planning and flight tracking systems, now offer access to Turbulence Aware data.
Iata said this enables pilots, dispatchers and flight planners to receive turbulence data directly in their main workflows, without relying on multiple screens or tools.
The Turbulence Aware Platform gathers data from more than 2,600 aircraft, with a total of 38 million reports generated in 2023.
The data is also made available to meteorological offices for turbulence modelling validation and development as well as academic institutes for research purposes.
Walsh said: “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.
“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.”