World Meteorological Organization

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

on the

2026 Amendment to WMO's Qualification and Competency Requirements for Aeronautical Meteorological Personnel

Answer 1:

Summary of the changes to WMO-No. 49, Volume I, Part V: QUALIFICATIONS:

• Addition of a Recommendation that WMO Members should, based on the relevant national, regional and/or global requirements, determine the necessary level of qualification(s) required for each category of operational personnel. (New paragraph 1.1.2)
• Removal of a Recommendation that WMO Members should decide, in light of their national circumstances, whether higher or more specific qualification requirements to those currently prescribed in WMO-No. 49, Volume I, Part V should be established for certain categories of operational personnel. (Paragraph 1.1.3)
• Addition of a Note to clarify that AMP includes personnel with responsibility for providing an aeronautical meteorological service at the national, regional or global level. (Inserted between paragraphs 1.2 and 1.2.1)
• Addition of a Note to describe that Members may require additional and/or higher levels of qualification(s) for operational AMP. (Inserted between paragraphs 1.2 and 1.2.1)
• Addition of a Note to describe that aeronautical meteorological service delivery specialisms such as (but not limited to) volcanic hazards and space weather may require the successful completion of additional and/or alternative qualification frameworks to underpin the required competencies of the personnel delivering operational services in such specialist areas. (Inserted between paragraphs 1.2 and 1.2.1)
• Revision of a Standard that requires an aeronautical meteorological forecaster (AMF) to have successfully completed the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M) to describe qualification(s) for AMF that are consistent with the BIP-M. (Paragraph 1.2.1.1)

Note, a proposed amendment addressing qualification(s) of AMO linked to the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorological Technicians (BIP-MT) was not supported by Congress (Cg-19). Therefore, only the amendment associated with AMF linked to the BIP-M, as summarized above, was adopted.

The following diagram illustrates the key differences, according to minimum qualification requirement(s) and record keeping responsibilities.

Answer 2:

Changes to the qualification requirements defined in the technical regulations need to be reflected in WMO-No. 1209.

Summary of changes to WMO-No. 1209, Section 2 COMPETENCIES (SECOND-LEVEL):

• Removal of reference [in the regional variations section] that an aeronautical meteorological forecaster (AMF) is required to possess the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M).
• Addition of reference [in the regional variations section] that the level of qualification(s) necessary to underpin the required competencies of operational aeronautical meteorological forecasters is to be consistent with the relevant educational framework, background skills and knowledge described in the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M).
• Addition of reference [in the regional variations section] that the aeronautical meteorological office or centre should record evidence that the AMP responsible for the provision of its services have completed the necessary formal learning or courses of study to demonstrate they possess the background skills and knowledge, as described in the relevant competency framework.
• Addition [in the regional variations section] of the record keeping requirements.

Answer 3:

In 2011, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) adopted the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M) as a prerequisite qualification requirement (as a Standard) for aeronautical meteorological forecasters (AMF). The requirement for AMF to have successfully completed the BIP-M entered into force in 2016.

More recently, WMO’s Standing Committee on Services for Aviation (SC-AVI), with assistance from its Expert Team on Education, Training and Competency (ET-ETC), has determined that the existing aeronautical meteorological personnel (AMP) qualification and competency requirements defined in the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49), Volume I, General Meteorological Standards and Recommended Practices and, in the case of competency, elaborated by guidance in the Compendium of WMO Competency Frameworks (WMO-No. 1209), are not wholly suited to aeronautical meteorological specialisms such as volcanic ash, space weather and tropical cyclones. Indeed, aeronautical meteorological service providers with responsibility to maintain a continuous watch over such phenomena in their area of responsibility presently have little or no means to demonstrate how their specialist AMF fully comply with WMO’s prevailing qualification and competency requirements.

Over the coming decade, aeronautical meteorological services will see a period of significant global change. New skills will be required in the future service delivery model, and therefore increased diversity in the qualification requirements to deliver said service. Moreover, in the future operating model aeronautical meteorological products and services will likely vary between aeronautical meteorological service providers. According to a recent article published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , both prerequisite qualifications and professional development must be revised to accommodate the evolving forecast process, including addressing the need for computing and data skills (including artificial intelligence and visualization), probabilistic and ensemble forecasting, decision support, and communication skills. In other words, as human effort shifts from forecast production toward impact-based decision support, communicating risk, data and information management, employers hiring AMP will require prerequisite skills not currently contained within the BIP-M.

In proposing the solution, SC-AVI took into consideration the information covered in the background skills and knowledge within the competency standard, and historic challenges that the introduction of the standard presented to both WMO and its Members. The revised standard introduces a level of flexibility in the application of educational frameworks, background knowledge and skills, such as those described in the Basic Instruction Packages. WMO Members are empowered to defined alternative or additional qualifications, as relevant for the category of operational aeronautical personnel.

^[1] Stuart N, Hartfield G, Schultz D, et al, 2022, 'The Evolving Role of Humans in Weather Prediction and Communication', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, viewed 12 June 2022 [Link]

Answer 4:

For aeronautical meteorological service providers employing Aeronautical Meteorological Forecaster (AMF) possessing the BIP-M, there is little to no change. Employers can continue to source experts holding the BIP-M qualification. The revised standard allows for flexibility, however, in that aeronautical meteorological service providers now have the opportunity to define alternative or additional prerequisite qualifications, provided they are consistent with the background knowledge and skills as described in the BIP-M.

Answer 5:

There is no change for Aeronautical Meteorological Observers (AMO). Members will continue to decide whether their national circumstances require specific qualifications of AMO.

Answer 6:

The introduction of flexible provisions enable WMO Members to define relevant qualifications for specialist aeronautical meteorological specialists included (but not limited to) volcanic ash forecasters and space weather forecasters. Aeronautical meteorological service providers can define alternative or additional prerequisite qualifications [to the Basic Instruction Packages] that provide the underpinning skills and knowledge appropriate for each category of personnel.

Answer 7:

In late-2020 and 2021, ET-ETC core experts collaborated with focal points at Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs) in the development of a set of second-level competencies for VAAC forecasters for inclusion in WMO-No. 1209 Compendium of WMO Competency Frameworks. When work developed on incorporating the VAAC competencies as a subset of the AMF competencies, the framework become overly complex and unwieldy. Thus, a discrete set of second level competency details specific to VAAC forecasters was proposed and subsequently developed.

Consideration was given to the application of the BIP-M in the context of volcanic ash forecasting, to examine whether VAAC forecasters required the qualification in whole or in part. The ET-ETC, in consultation with focal points at VAACs, concluded that whilst compliance with the entire BIP-M was an advantage, only components of the BIP-M were essential. Therefore, the relevant prerequisite components of the BIP-M were defined in the background knowledge and skills of each competency criteria.

Moreover, the BIP-M is not fit-for-purpose as a standard prerequisite qualification for emerging services such as Space Weather. Therefore, an approach that takes into consideration the nuances between aeronautical meteorological services, and the variations at a national and regional level, was considered a more appropriate option. 

Answer 8:

The revised standard contained in the technical regulations is described such that it can be applied to all AMP. Consider the following examples:

In all examples, employees may require further qualifications that are currently not described by the BIP-M, such as communicating risk, impact-based decision support, and data analytics. WMO Members are at liberty, under the proposed provisions, to define new or alternative qualifications relevant for their operational aeronautical meteorological personnel.

In consideration of the evolving role of AMP in the future of aeronautical meteorological services, the emphasis is shifting to educate  employees to be job ready, competent, and responsive to changing industry needs. Prerequisite qualifications such as formal learning or courses of study prepare employees by equipping them with the background knowledge and skills to enable competent performance but should not be used as a proxy for job readiness. For this reason, the new standard considers that whilst the Basic Instruction Packages provide an educational framework to inform the background knowledge and skills, the emphasis of defined qualifications shifts to preparing employees to meet the required competency. The revised standard also takes into account development of additional competency frameworks to support existing and emerging specialist areas including (but not limited to) volcanic ash, space weather, and tropical cyclones.

Quality for ongoing aeronautical meteorological service delivery is driven by the application of a consistent competency standard that describes the skills, knowledge and behaviours AMP require to successfully deliver the functions of their role. The requirements will vary depending on the category of staff. Whilst background knowledge and skills inform competency, they should not be relied upon to drive quality.

Answer 9:

The expected benefits to be realized by making these changes to WMO-No. 49, Volume I and WMO-No. 1209 can be summarized as follows:

• Allows for a greater degree of flexibility in prerequisite qualifications, spanning a range of scientific specialisms outside of traditional meteorology, including but not limited to volcanology, astrophysics, computer science and numerical weather prediction modelling.
• Anticipates future skill requirements in consideration of the changing role of aeronautical meteorological personnel linked to service delivery transformation, including an increased emphasis on communication, customer relationships, and quality assurance, which are skills not readily acquired by formal academic means. Thus, reducing the administrative burden on WMO to define and redefine prerequisite qualifications at the pace of service delivery transformation.
• Enables Members to determine the level of academic rigour appropriate for the background skills and knowledge in support of the AMP functions specific for their national needs.
• Creates consistency in the application of qualification standards across all categories of aeronautical meteorological personnel, leading to improved quality assurance.

Answer 10:

Permanent Representatives are expected to take the lead in consulting with the appropriate national and regional bodies to define the academic qualifications required by Aeronautical Meteorological Personnel.

Answer 11:

Yes. As part of the Quality Management System employed, each aeronautical meteorological service provider will need to keep a record of what qualifications or supporting evidence that meets the criteria for the background knowledge and skills described in the AMP competency frameworks.

Answer 12:

The short answer is no. There is no anticipated need to alter ICAO Annex 3 Standards and Recommended Practices because of the amendment to WMO technical regulations.

Answer 13:

Through Resolution 4.1(2)/1 (Cg-19) [provisional resolution number], Congress adopted the amendment to the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49), Volume I, General Meteorological Standards and Recommended Practices with an applicability date of 1 January 2026.

Answer 14:

Initially very little. In accordance with the principles of a quality management system (QMS), documented evidence will continue to be required by national, regional and global regulatory bodies, to demonstrate that the necessary level of qualification(s) to underpin the required competencies of operational aeronautical meteorological personnel are being satisfied.

For aeronautical meteorological forecasters (AMF), the most effective way of demonstrating the necessary level of qualification(s) would remain the successful completion of the WMO Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M). The changes are, however, intended to provide more flexibility, particularly with regards to ‘other’ environmental specialisms, around how the relevant educational frameworks, background skills, and knowledge requirements, described in the BIP-M, can be demonstrated.

For aeronautical meteorological observers (AMO) there is no impact because no changes with regards to the qualification requirements were introduced by Congress (Cg-19).

Answer 15:

Yes, through the Standing Committee on Services for Aviation (SC-AVI) Expert Team on Education, Training and Competencies (ET-ETC), in coordination with other WMO bodies and partner agencies e.g. ICAO as necessary, supporting guidance will be made available on the Services for Aviation Moodle training portal (aviationtraining.wmo.int) and promoted through existing communication channels (i.e. WMO Services for Aviation Newsletters).

Answer 16:

No. WMO is not set-up to be an accreditation and certification agency. It is noted however that some Members and regional bodies do mandate the licensing of AMP, albeit based on WMO Standards and Recommended Practices for the education, training and competency of such AMP.

It should be highlighted however that it is a requirement to maintain and enhance personnel skills over time, therefore competency assessments should be completed at least once every 5 years. For further information on competency assessment, refer to the WMO Guide to Competency (WMO-No. 1205), available through the WMO e-Library.

Answer 17:

No. Forthcoming proposals for the addition of competencies for volcanic ash and space weather forecasting will be considered under the current AMF category and achieved through tailored second-level competency information, rather than a new category of competency. For further information on the structure of a competency framework and how to tailor such a framework to meet the needs of different operational requirements, refer to the WMO Guide to Competency (WMO-No. 1205), available through the WMO e-Library

Answer 1:

Summary of the changes to WMO-No. 49, Volume I, Part V: COMPETENCIES (TOP-LEVEL):

• Introduction of the term “other relevant environmental” for the competencies associated with aeronautical meteorological forecasters (AMF) and aeronautical meteorological observers (AMO) in order to provide greater flexibility when/if competency frameworks are developed for other aeronautical meteorological specialisms. (Section 1.2.2) 

Where 'weather' is referred to in the existing top-level competencies, this has been replaced with meteorological and/or other relevant environmental situations. Where aeronautical meteorological phenomena and parameters is mentioned, this has been replaced with meteorological and/or other relevant environmental phenomena and parameters. The following diagrams illustrate the change.

Answer 2:

Summary of changes to WMO-No. 1209, Section 2 COMPETENCIES (SECOND-LEVEL):

• Removal of reference [in the regional variations section] that an aeronautical meteorological forecaster (AMF) is required to possess the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M).
• Addition of reference [in the regional variations section] that the level of qualification(s) necessary to underpin the required competencies of operational aeronautical meteorological forecasters is to be consistent with the relevant educational framework, background skills and knowledge described in the Basic Instruction Package for Meteorologists (BIP-M).
• Addition of reference [in the regional variations section] that the aeronautical meteorological office or centre should record evidence that the AMP responsible for the provision of its services have completed the necessary formal learning or courses of study to demonstrate they possess the background skills and knowledge, as described in the relevant competency framework.
• Addition [in the regional variations section] of the record keeping requirements.

The changes to the top-level competency standards need to be reflected in WMO-No.1209 and filter down through the second-level competency details, such as the competency descriptions and performance criteria.

The following diagram illustrates the change to the performance criteria in the Aeronautical Meteorological Forecaster (AMF) competency.

Answer 3:

During the first meeting of the ET-ETC (ET-ETC-1), held virtually in December 2021, the Expert Team considered that the aeronautical meteorological personnel (AMP) qualification and competency requirements defined in WMO-No. 49, Volume I and WMO-No.1209 were too restrictive. It was determined that the current information in the top-level competency statements is not completely suited to aeronautical meteorological-relevant specialisms such as volcanic ash, space weather and tropical cyclones. More specifically, aeronautical meteorological service providers with responsibility to maintain a continuous watch over phenomena such as volcanic ash, space weather and/or tropical cyclone events in their area of responsibility, in order to maintain a volcanic ash advisory centre (VAAC), a space weather centre (SWXC) and/or a tropical cyclone advisory centre (TCAC), presently have little or no means to demonstrate how their specialist aeronautical meteorological forecasters (AMF) fully comply with WMO’s prevailing qualification and competency requirements.

Before seeking to establish new (potentially discrete) qualification and/or competency requirements for aeronautical meteorological forecasters (AMF) working in one or more of the above-mentioned or other such specialist areas, ET-ETC-1 determined that there was first a need to broaden (or otherwise amend) the scope of the AMP requirements in WMO-No. 49, Volume I, Part V and WMO-No. 1209, Section 2 in such a way that they could be readily applied to ‘other relevant environmental’ situations, phenomena, parameters and information.

Answer 4:

The broadened scope will have no impact on AMP competency frameworks currently being implemented by aeronautical meteorological service providers. Existing implementation plans can continue as they are. 

The introduction of 'other environmental phenomena' allows for greater flexibility of the framework to be applied to other specialisms impacting on aeronautical meteorological services, providing an opportunity for the same top-level competencies to be applied to volcanic ash advisory centre (VAAC) services and space weather centre (SWXC) services, among others. The difference between competency frameworks will then be described in the second-level competency information, such as the performance criteria and background skills and knowledge, which will necessarily vary between specialist vocations.

Answer 5:

There are many benefits to adopting a competency framework. The Guide to Competency (WMO-No. 1205) lists some such benefits, such as:

• Improves the quality of service provision. One long-term benefit of the implementation of competency standards is that they will improve the quality of the meteorological services provided to international air navigation by ensuring that personnel meet the defined performance criteria and knowledge required to provide these services;
• Promotes national and international consistency. When competencies are adopted as standard practices, they promote consistency of service across organizations. Globalization means that personnel should be expected to perform at similar levels and have similar skills, whatever their country of service;
• Provides clear expectations by defining standards and measures for an individual and a team;
• Assists organizations in meeting their operational objectives; 
• Provides a tool for evaluation by enabling organizations to perform a gap analysis between actual skills, knowledge and behaviours, and desired skills, knowledge and behaviours;
• Provides guidelines for coaches/mentors/managers on specific behaviours that need development;
• Enables effective, efficient and targeted training and development of resources; 
• Allows organizations to determine their ongoing training needs through periodic assessment of individuals against the required competencies;
• Assists with career and succession planning. For example, managers and supervisors can use competency requirements to identify the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for new roles and perform a gap analysis to determine what areas need development;
• Assists with capability development and workforce planning. Implementation of a competency framework enables organizations to understand where they are now and what will be required to get them to where they want to go;
• Assists with change management. Meteorological service provision is a rapidly changing landscape, where service areas are evolving from a typical forecast product delivery service to a user-focused, impact-based service. Implementing competencies enables organizations to understand where they are now, and provides a tool to map the training requirements to acquire the skills and knowledge for where they want to go. Therefore, competencies provide continuity, consistency and quality assurance through times of change, but still have the flexibility to evolve to reflect significant transitions in a role;
• Provides a tool organizations can use to document their quality management process. The fundamental quality management cycle of “plan, do, check and act” is mirrored in the competency management cycle; 
• Provides the individual with the motivational reassurance of their own competence to fulfil the role;
• Provides guidance to develop new services. For example, as the need for climate services unfolds with the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), a competency framework can assist in defining the human resources development requirements.

Therefore, when examined through the lens of quality and of service delivery transformation, competency frameworks wield a powerful tool to drive consistent quality globally, as well as equip organisation and individuals with clarity around skill requirements and targeting training investments to the training need.

Answer 6:

During the Fourteenth WMO Symposium on Education and Training (SYMET-14), participants emphasized the need to fill the gap between theory and practice in competency-based training programs, especially with respect to real life application. As a result, WMO's Education and Training office (ETR) have devised an On-the-Job Training and Competency Assessment course. The purpose of this Training Program is to provide the necessary training to WMO Members’ organizations that are developing, implementing and/or maintaining competency-based training and assessment programmes based upon the WMO competency frameworks established in the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49), Volume I by facilitating a common approach to the competencies required of individuals while assisting National Meteorological and/or Hydrological Services (NMHS) in establishing their respective personnel competence systems to satisfactorily meet international standards. Building capacity of WMO Members on aspects related to competency plays an important role in services delivery, hence the following training needs were identified, defining a compact training programme:

1. Training on fundamental concepts of competency, including its definition, key drivers and challenges, general principles of engagement, and required implementation;
2. Training on the means of obtaining and maintaining competencies (On-the-Job Training);
3. Training on relevant knowledge and specific skills to assess competencies, effective and in compliance with ethical standards.

For more information on the On-the-Job Training and Competency Assessment course, contact the WMO ETR.

Answer 7:

There is a wealth of guidance material available to support National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) implement competency frameworks within their institutions. Please refer to the following resources:

• Guide to Competency (WMO-No. 1205)
• Services for Aviation Moodle training portal

Within the Moodle portal, you will find a range of topics covered, and forums where you can ask questions and share your experiences, challenges and opportunities.