Automatic Terminal Information Service

Automatic terminal information service, or ATIS, is a continuous broadcast of recorded noncontrol aeronautical information in busier terminal (i.e. airport) areas. ATIS broadcasts contain essential information, such as weather information, which runways are active, available approaches, and any other information required by the pilots, such as important NOTAMs. Pilots usually listen to an available ATIS broadcast before contacting the local control unit, in order to reduce the controllers' workload and relieve frequency congestion.

The recording is updated in fixed intervals or when there is a significant change in the information, e.g. a change in the active runway. It is given a letter designation (e.g. bravo) from the ICAO spelling alphabet. The letter progresses through the alphabet with every update and starts at alpha after a break in service of 12 hours or more. When contacting the local control unit, a pilot will indicate he/she has "information <letter>", where <letter> is the ATIS identification letter of the ATIS transmission the pilot received. This allows the ATC controller to verify whether the pilot has all the current information.

Noise abatement procedures in effect.

Tower frequency: 122.900 MHz (departing aircraft)

Approach frequency: 128.550 MHz (arriving aircraft)

There is intense gliding activity in the vicinity of the airfield

Instruction to report you have information Quebec

See METAR for a more in-depth explanation of aviation weather messages and terminology.

On tuning to an ATIS frequency, a pilot might hear:

This translates to:

This example was recorded on 11 July 2016 at London Stansted Airport during which time there were ongoing maintenance works taking place on the taxiway surface in a part of the airport near the cargo terminal; the ATIS broadcast reflects this.

The ATIS at an airport is usually given by an automated voice, this allows a busy air traffic controller to quickly type a new ATIS message (or for a computer system reading weather instruments to generate parts of the message dynamically) instead of making a time-consuming voice recording, although at some smaller, less busy airports with a control tower, it may be made by a controller and not a computer. Most airports in a certain country will often have the same ATIS format or layout with the same automated voice. For example, all ATIS information at major airports in the United Kingdom such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and even smaller ones, such as East Midlands and Newcastle, have a similar format or layout and are all given by the same automated voice.

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