Weather risks to civil aviation in WMO meeting

Geneva, Switzerland and Hong Kong, China (GenevaLunch) – The Geneva-based  WMO (World Meteorological Organization) is bringing together about 150 national weather services experts for a week of meetings in Hong Kong, China, to review how to help the airline industry. Modern air travel is in need of more timely and more accurate weather data to improve safety, according to the WMO. The meeting, which starts 3 February, includes aeronautical meteorologists and aviation industry representatives.

Three-quarters of air traffic delays and almost half of the accidents to aircraft are weather-related. The probable increase of extreme weather events will  increase the risk to aviation, argues the WMO.

The meeting’s aims include establishing common standards of competency, quality and training methods for weather experts involved in civil aviation. Another is to develop the New Terminal Weather Forecast project which would extend the range of airport weather forecasting from today’s 8km radius to up to 100km, thus improving safety for civil aviation.

Improvements agreed to are expected to be integrated into national and international civil aviation plans. NextGen is the USA’s plan to improve the flying experience by 2025.

Links to other sites: IATA, WMO

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.