The Civil Aviation Branch is part of the Business Division of the Met Office. Based at the Met Office HQ in Bracknell, we help provide a wide range of services to aviation in the UK and around the world. The weather is vitally important to everyone in aviation, whether they are flying balloons or hang-gliders, light aircraft or large commercial jets.

A typical day in the section is busy and varied. We work closely as a team to deal with a wide range of policy and technical issues and aviation-related enquiries. To help understand our customers' needs, we regularly meet with customers and visit air shows to talk with pilots.

Our group is split into two sections: services to international aviation (such as commercial international airlines) and services to national aviation (including national airline operations, light aircraft and general aviation).

A great deal of our work is carried out under contract to National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which currently forms part of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK meteorological authority for aviation. We also provide a range of services on a commercial basis. Our aim throughout is to help improve the efficiency and safety of flight operations in a cost-effective way.

More about International and national services

Internationally, we are one of two World Area Forecast Centres for aviation and are called WAFC London - the other is WAFC Washington. This requires us to produce global forecasts of winds and temperatures for flights throughout the world.

Our range of national services includes Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs), which forecast conditions at individual airports, provide warnings of severe weather and a range of regional and low-level forecasts in text and graphical form.

We provide a tailored service to offshore helicopter operators, and a recognised observer training programme for air traffic control staff. We also visit airports within the south-east and inspect their facilities to ensure that the weather reports they generate (METARs) are of an appropriate standard. We also provide information to the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to help with accident investigations.

More about WAFC

A major potential growth area is the use of the Internet to provide our services. This will enable us to provide a range of products that are far more tailored to the needs of individual customers.

More about Aviation services online