Aeronautical Information Service (AIS)

A safe, efficient and regulated Civil Aviation Industry depends heavily on the timely availability of information called Aeronautical Information. Such information may range from information that remain unchanged over a long time like the number of runways at an airport or temporary information like the unserviceability of a nav aid. Making these wide ranging information available at the right time to those requiring it is the task of the Aeronautical Information Service or AIS.

An ANSP usually provides Aeronautical Information Services on behalf of the regulatory authority of that state.

Although the information is wide ranging and are particular to states and ANSP, they are usually provided in collective form called the Integrated Aeronautical Information package or the IAIP. The IAIP consists of several components.

Elements of an Integrated Aeronautical Information Package (Courtesy: ICAO, Picture source: www.slideshare.netIAIP)

A major component of the IAIP is called the Aeronautical Information Publication or the AIP. This publication is issued in fulfilment of an international obligation in aviation that every state should make all information required for safe air navigation applicable to that state to all those who require it. The publication contains information like the details about the airports in the state, the navigational aids available, and obstacles to safe flight operations. It is a highly structured document with a standard structure used by all states. The AIP is usually published by the ANSP on behalf of the regulatory authority for aviation of that state.

AIP of the Republic of Korea. Every state must publish its AIP to inform the global aviation community about the important details pertaining to its aviation sector (Picture source: acc.molit.go.kr)

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NOTAM which stands for ‘NOtice To Air Men’ is another component of the IAIP which deals with information that are subject to change such as the unforeseen shutdown of a runway or the withdrawal of a navigational aid.

The pilots of each flight must also be briefed on any matters that are particular to that flight such as information issued on currently valid NOTAM. Such information is provided to the pilots in the form of a brief. These are called Pre-Flight Information Bulletins or PIB. Providing PIB is also a task of the AIS and the PIB is a part of the IAIP.

Pilots receiving pre-flight briefing. The PIB is also an important service of the AIS (Picture source: www.kan.kg)

Nowadays a big mismatch exists between how information has traditionally been processed by AIS providers and the information processing capabilities possessed by today’s world. Paper based documentation is still common in AIS of most parts of the world. Even though many states have now opted to make their IAIP accessible via the Internet, it is still ‘document centered’ and not ‘data centered’ as in many other Internet based applications. Also there is a high level of duplication of information and in the effort made to make the information available. Updating and amending already issued information is also difficult and involves a lot of effort.  To remove these disadvantages and to make use of the advanced and very efficient technologies available in the world today to collect, process, store and distribute information, the aviation industry worldwide is planning to transform the AIS to an Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) system. Many ANSP are at present at various stages of AIS to AIM transition while certain states claim to have successfully completed the transition.

AIS/AIM personnel are essentially multi skilled and should be thorough with various types of aeronautical information as well as modern information processing methods.

So, now we have looked at all 4 elements of an Air Navigation Service. To recall, they are

• Navigational Aids
• Air Traffic Control
• Aeronautical Communication
• Aeronautical Information Service

We have now also looked at 2 of the 4 functions carried out by our company namely the Airport Service Function and the Air Navigation Service Function. Next we will look at the Airport and facility Maintenance Function and the Airport and Facility Development Function.