Several Affected as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in Los Angeles to Sydney encountered rough air this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Emergency medical services said they evaluated five patients, and transported three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as pain in the back and head pain. The injured spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, stating that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they were alerted just three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is becoming increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

During the past year, 25 people were hurt when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" turbulence just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

Turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while cases of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane passing through unstable air exert greater than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.