Aviation is an industry that is significantly impacted by everyday and severe weather, in relation to both safety and efficiency. The Aviation applications team provides research, product support and consultancy services to inform the aviation community on the impacts of meteorology across a range of temporal and spatial scales, including airport operations, the Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA) environment, en-route flight planning and the global network.

Key aims

• To translate our world-leading weather and climate research into products and services that benefit aviation, helping to improve the safety, efficiency and environmental impacts across the sector
• To improve forecast accuracy of weather phenomena that affect air transport such as turbulence, icing and convective storms.
• To provide scientific support to aviation products and services
• To raise awareness among the aviation community on the potential benefits of using advances in meteorological information within their operations

Core activities

• A programme of research, funded by the Civil Aviation Authority, to advance knowledge in the field of aviation meteorology
• Contributions to European projects, such as the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programme
• Engagement with key stakeholders such as Air Traffic Management (ATM) service providers (for example, NATS) to understand how meteorology affects their operational requirements
• Development of products in support of the Met Office's role as a World Area Forecast Centre for aviation
• Consultancy services regarding meteorology and aviation 
• Working alongside other teams in the Met Office (across Science, Forecasting, Observations and Business areas) to ensure the best possible outcomes for our customers