ANA & WestJet join IATA's Turbulence Aware platform

On June 6th, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and WestJet joined the International Air Transport Association's Turbulence Aware Platform. The system collects turbulence data from aircraft flying around the globe to help pilots identify the best flight path, thus reducing fuel burn and safety incidents. IATA's real-time turbulence data-gathering platform was first launched in December 2018 to help airlines mitigate the impact of turbulence, which is a leading cause of passenger and crew injuries and higher fuel costs each year. In the first phase, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Aer Lingus were the first airlines to join the program when it was launched. Now a total of 20 airlines globally are participating in the Turbulence Aware Platform. This includes the likes of Southwest, Korean Air, Qatar Airways, China Airlines, Lufthansa, easyJet, and others. To provide real-time data, Turbulence Aware uses information coming directly from the aircraft of member airlines. The system uses National Center for Atmospheric Research software in an aircraft's avionics to continuously calculate the Energy Dissipation Rate (EDR), which is the official metric of the International Civil Aviation Organization to measure turbulence intensity. The EDR data is then transferred into the Turbulence Aware database to be shared with participating airlines.<br/>