Australia’s Aviation Meteorological Services Transformation reaches the final milestone.
Over the past three years, the Bureau of Meteorology (Bureau) has delivered a major transformation program to improve weather forecasting for the aviation industry. This program was established to implement the recommendations of a review commissioned by the industry: to create aviation specialist roles and establish two Aviation Forecasting Centres (AFCs), one in Brisbane and the other in Melbourne.
On 18 June, the final three aviation-related services joined the Melbourne AFC. These services are en-route aviation (over 10,000 ft), the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) and Global Aviation Space Weather Service (SWS). These specialised aviation services are delivered by a new team called the Hazardous Weather Unit.
With the addition of the Hazardous Weather Unit, the Bureau’s AFCs now offer a complete aviation meteorological service, which will drive even greater consistency between high and low-level aviation. Implementation of new tools and people processes have enabled greater responsiveness to critical weather events, and scalability in service delivery methods based on a range of criteria.
Every meteorologist in the AFCs is fully focused on the aviation sector. Our mission is to provide pilots and airline operations with the most accurate and reliable weather understanding to fly safely and economically. As the industry recovers from the COVID-19 crisis, the Bureau’s new AFCs will support our customers by providing world-class weather insights every day for all of Australia’s airspace.
CONTACT DETAILS FOR AVIATION PRODUCTS & SERVICES
| Brisbane Aviation Forecasting Centre | |
| Phone Name | Phone Number |
| QLD North | 07 3239 8721 |
| QLD South | 07 3229 1854 |
| WA North | 08 9263 2259 |
| NT | 08 8920 3814 |
| Melbourne Aviation Forecasting Centre (including Hazardous Weather Unit) | |
| Phone Name | Phone Number |
| NSW East | 02 9296 1526 |
| WA South | 08 9263 2255 |
| VIC | 03 9669 4850 |
| TAS | 03 6221 2026 |
| SA | 08 8366 2773 |
| NSW West | 02 9296 1527 |
| Hazardous Weather Unit (En-route Aviation) | 03 9669 4115 |
| Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre/Space Weather | 03 9616 8415
03 9616 8490 |
More information
Information on Aviation Meteorological Services Transformation is available on the Bureau of Meteorology’s website at: www.bom.gov.au/aviation/aviation-transformation
If you have any questions about this work, email: Aviation_Transformation@bom.gov.au or Brett Anderson, General Manager – Aviation, Land and Maritime Transport, at Brett.Anderson@bom.gov.au
Thank you to all our customers for enabling us to transform our way of working, we would love to hear how we can now support you.