Emirates: Turbulence at Singapore Airlines a lesson for the industry

The flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Thailand and preliminary investigations revealed that the plane fell 54 metres (178 feet) in less than five seconds.

“They were a little unlucky, but the way they dealt with the consequences is a lesson for all of us in the industry,” Clark told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Sunday at the International Air Transport Association’s 80th annual general meeting in Dubai.

“No airline could have done more to firstly address the problem and secondly to deal with the consequences than Singapore,” he said.

According to the investigation report, the pilots operated controls to stabilize the aircraft during fluctuating gravity forces. The report also notes that seat belt buckle signals were on during the incident.

Following the incident, Singapore Airlines has amended its seat belt rules on board and changed at least one flight route. Hot drinks and meals are no longer offered when the seat belt sign is on.

In addition, while the daily London-Singapore route has remained operational since then, flight data shows that the airline has diverted the part of Myanmar where the turbulence occurred. Singapore Airlines did not respond to CNBC to confirm whether they have diverted the flight route.

When asked how Emirates was responding to the turbulence problem, Clark said the entire industry was working on it and was determined to find a method to predict when clear-air turbulence, which appears to occur “randomly”, might occur.

“We’ve seen an increase in turbulent activity and impact across our network, almost by accident, so I don’t think we’re alone in this,” he said.

Turbulence-related incidents are the most common type of accident involving commercial airlines, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. This includes major U.S. airlines as well as cargo aircraft and regional airlines.

— CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin and Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.