Turbulent skies: Why airlines steer clear of Tibet's airspace

When examining global flight routes, you will notice an interesting pattern: many routes run almost in straight lines to their destinations. However, in the region of South Asia, an empty space appears, indicating that few aircraft choose to fly over Tibet.

With a basic understanding of the geographic specifics of Tibet, we recognize that the highest peaks on Earth are located there, and the entire region is full of mountains and plateaus rising to heights of at least 4,000-4,900 metres. Although it might seem that they do not pose a problem for modern airplanes, which can soar much higher, it is the mountains that are the main reason aircraft avoid this part of the world.

Darren Ansell, lead of the Space and Aerospace Engineering team at the University of Lancashire in the United Kingdom, explained in an article for "The Conversation" that turbulence is essentially an air disturbance, comparable to a wave encountering an obstacle. He compares turbulence to the movement of sea waves and currents, noting that turbulence occurs when waves encounter obstacles, just as air becomes turbulent after encountering mountains.

Although it is possible to fly over Tibet, the journey can be full of turbulence. Another issue is safety. Planes fly significantly above the average height of 4,900 metres in this region.

However, if there is a drop in cabin pressure, which occurs rarely, pilots will have to descend to an altitude of about 3,000 metres, where the air is breathable, before they want to land at a nearby airport. This is somewhat problematic because descending to such an altitude risks crashing the plane into the protruding mountain tops.

For these reasons, and also due to the lack of emergency landing sites, airplanes that do not plan to land at Tibetan airports usually avoid this region.