28th Meeting of the Meteorology Group

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The Twenty-eighth Meeting of the Meteorology Group (METG/28) of the European Air Navigation Planning Group (EANPG) was held at the ICAO EUR/NAT Office, Paris, France from 18 to 21 September 2018. The Meeting was attended by a total of one-hundred and one (101) participants from thirty-nine (39) States, and five (5) International Organizations.

The meeting reviewed the implementation of Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) Block 0 – AMET which indicated approximately 90% implementation in the EUR Region. This reflects measuring implementation of the following ASBU B0 – AMET elements:

  • Secure Aviation Data Information Service (SADIS)
  • Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAA) and volcanic ash advisories in graphic form (VAG) from the respective Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs)
  • Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) from the respective Volcano Observatories (VO)
  • Quality Management System (QMS) for MET
  • Draft METAR (aerodrome routine meteorological reports) availability
  • Draft TAF (aerodrome forecast) availability
  • Draft METAR timeliness
  • Draft TAF timeliness
  • Draft SIGMET (information issued by a meteorological watch office concerning the occurrence or expected occurrence of specified en-route weather and other phenomena in the atmosphere that may affect the safety of aircraft operations) availability
  • Draft SIGMET format

To continue efforts in implementation of ASBU Block 0 – AMET, relevant guidance material is updated annually such as the EUR SIGMET and AIRMET Guide (EUR Doc 014) and the EUR OPMET Data Management Handbook (EUR Doc 018). In addition, METG/28 agreed that ICAO and some States provide assistance to States in need of implementing special air-report dissemination.

The meeting also addressed implementation of ASBU Block 1 – AMET and in particular the implementation of ICAO Meteorological Information Exchange Model (IWXXM). Some OPMET is distributed in IWXXM format for 9 States (including those with translation services by Regional OPMET Centres) and full implementation is expected by November 2020 in accordance with Amendment 78 to Annex 3. To support this effort, the Guidelines for the Implementation of OPMET data exchange using IWXXM in the EUR Region (EUR Doc 033) is updated annually to take into account global developments related to IWXXM. Implementation of IWXXM is one of the prerequisites for System Wide Information Management (SWIM).


ICAO works closely with the  World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to carry-out and monitor the meteorological issues that impact civil aviation. The Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) for this area of responsibility are contained in ICAO’s Annex 3:  the Convention on  International Civil Aviation Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation. You can read here to better understand ICAO’s work in the area of meteorology.