The flight path void: Why airlines steer clear of Tibet

Looking at flight routes around the world, you can observe an interesting phenomenon: many of them run almost in straight lines to their destinations, but in the region of South Asia, something strange occurs - an empty space appears, meaning that few aircraft choose to fly over Tibet.

With basic knowledge of the geographic specificity of Tibet, we know 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 4,000-5,000 metres. Although it might seem that they do not pose a problem for modern aeroplanes, which can soar much higher, it is the mountains that are the main reason aircraft avoid this part of the world.

Darren Ansell, leader 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. The expert 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 mountains can offer a journey full of turbulence. Another issue is safety. Planes fly significantly above the average height of 5,000 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, aeroplanes that do not plan to land at Tibetan airports usually avoid this region.