The Observatory hosting international training workshop and science steering committee meeting to share best practice in meteorology and Air Traffic Management integration and plan its future development

18 October 2018

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) hosted an international training workshop on Meteorology-Air Traffic Management (MET-ATM) integration under the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP) during 8-10 October 2018. The training workshop is organized by the Aviation Research and Demonstration Project (AvRDP), a joint project under the Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS) and Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM).

The focus of the workshop was on enhancement of aviation meteorological information and services in support of the modernization of air traffic management envisioned in the Global Aviation Navigation Plan (GANP) by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for the next 15 years and beyond. Experts from the AvRDP Science Steering Committee (SSC) Members, including Mr Peter Chadwick from Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department, Ms. Stephanie Desbios from Meteo France, Mr. Yuki Kato from Japan Meteorological Agency, Dr. Herbert Puempel from Austria and Mr. Matt Strahan from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were invited to deliver lectures in the Workshop. They shared the latest trend in MET-ATM integration now undertaking at the world’s leading national/regional projects as well as utilization of enhanced aviation meteorological information in support of the air traffic management to maintain safety, efficiency and environment-friendliness under the ever growing air traffic environment.

Participants of the workshop also took the opportunity to share with the other representatives the development of their aviation weather services. Participants generally commented that through the Workshop, they have learned the best practices and experience from other countries on MET-ATM integration.

The workshop was attended by 20 participants from 16 countries over the world, including Australia, China, Congo, Egypt, Honduras, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, South Sudan, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Following the Training Workshop, HKO hosted the 4th AvRDP SSC meeting on 11-12 October 2018. During the Meeting, aviation meteorology and ATM experts reviewed the latest progress of MET enhancement and MET-ATM integration conducted by participating airports under the Project. The Meeting also discussed about the roadmap for expanding the AvRDP in the years to come.

AvRDP aims to demonstrate the capability of nowcasting and mesoscale modelling techniques in support of the development of the next generation aviation initiative, namely, the Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) methodology under the GANP. International airports from different regions, including Changi Airport (Singapore), Charles de Gaulle Airport (France), Hong Kong International Airport (Hong Kong), Hongqiao Airport (China), India Gandhi International Airport (India), Iqaluit Airport (Canada), Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport (Japan), O.R. Tambo International Airport (South Africa), Pearson International Airport (Canada), and Pulkovo Airport (Russia) participated in the Project.

Mr CM Shun, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (front row, 5th from the right) taking a group photo with the participants of the VCP workshop on MET-ATM under the Joint CAS/CAeM AvRDP, and experts of the Science Steering Committee members.

Participants of the workshop shared the development in their aviation weather services.