IATA, Weather Company Collaborate on Data Solutions

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is expanding the transmission of its Turbulence Aware data for use within industry-leading aviation solutions.

IATA is in collaboration with The Weather Company, which serves majority of North American commercial airlines and many others globally. With this enhancement, participating airlines ncan now access Eddy Dissipation Rate (EDR) turbulence data directly through Fusion and Pilotbrief tools by The Weather Company.

IATA Turbulence Aware will be enabled as an additional data layer within these tools, allowing pilots, dispatchers and flight planners to have needed turbulence observations integrated directly into their mission critical applications in one place rather than relying on multiple screens.

Turbulence can impact crew and passenger safety, route planning, arrival and departure times, customer satisfaction, equipment maintenance and more. Combining IATA Turbulence Aware observations with forecasts from The Weather Company, the world’s most accurate forecaster, aims to better mitigate the impacts of weather and turbulence for contributing airlines globally. 

Accessing real-time, accurate turbulence information enables pilots and dispatchers to choose optimal flight paths, avoid turbulence and fly at optimum levels to maximize fuel efficiency and thereby reduce CO2 emissions. IATA Turbulence Aware was launched in 2018 to help airlines mitigate the impact of turbulence, which is a leading cause of passenger and crew injuries and higher fuel costs each year. The platform pools anonymized EDR turbulence data from thousands of flights operated by participating airlines. EDR is the official ICAO and WMO atmospheric turbulence intensity metric.

According to Aviation Head for The Weather Company. Ravi Vanmali, “As weather grows more impactful due to a changing climate, it’s critical now more than ever for aviation leaders to incorporate accurate, real-time, globally scaled weather data and insights within decisions. Reliable weather data and forecasts, combined with human expertise, can help airlines and pilots plan around inclement weather and turbulence, improve crew and passenger safety, and mitigate impact to the bottom line.”