The UK Met Office has launched an aviation weather platform designed to support the needs of the aviation industry as it rapidly evolves.
The Met Office Aeronautical Visualisation Service (MAVIS) is said to be the most significant modernization of the UK’s regulated aviation weather services in more than two decades. Bringing together multiple legacy platforms into a single, intuitive interface, it can support traditional operations ranging from crewed aircraft through to spacecraft missions.
The platform was developed in close collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and shaped using user research and feedback from airlines, airports, pilots, emergency responders, offshore helicopter operators, balloonists and the general aviation community, to ensure it reflects the needs of the entire sector.
It is now in a fully operational beta phase with functionality continually being introduced. MAVIS replaces the long-standing Aviation Briefing Service, Network Weather Resilience, HeliBrief and OpenRunway, consolidating them into one cohesive service.
Powered by the Met Office’s cloud-based supercomputing capability, MAVIS is said to provide faster, clearer and more accessible meteorological data, including Meteorological Aerodrome Reports (METARs), Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs), UK charts and interactive map layers, supporting safer decision-making across the aviation sector.
The launch supports the Met Office’s long-term commitment to helping the aviation industry operate safely and efficiently amid the challenges of climate-induced hazards.
Lauren Donohue, aviation business manager at the Met Office, said, “The official launch of MAVIS represents a major milestone in how we support aviation in an evolving climate. By bringing all our regulated aviation services together into a single platform, we are enabling faster, more intuitive access to the data aviation professionals depend on.
“MAVIS will play a central role in supporting the future of aviation with world-leading science, clear insight and user-driven innovation, especially as weather patterns shift and our climate evolves, making operations more complex. MAVIS is designed to adapt, ensuring the UK’s weather intelligence keeps pace with the next generation of aviation.”
As the UK’s national meteorological service, the Met Office provides safety-critical weather services for aviation on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority. For organizations that need more advanced functionality, a range of optional commercial upgrades, including tailored forecasting and enhanced interactive visualization tools, are available to support more complex operational decisions.
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