On 8-9 June 2026, ICAO -the International Civil Aviation Organization- organised a 2nd Space Weather User Workshop on the provision and use of space weather information for international civil air navigation. Once again, the team at STCE contributed significantly to the workshop preparations and realization.
General Information
ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation. As a member of the PECASUS consortium, STCE is responsible for generating space weather (SWx) advisories for the benefit of civil aviation. On 8-9 June 2026, ICAO organised a 2nd Space Weather User Workshop gathering multiple airlines with major representation from the South African sector and facilitating an open dialogue between airliners, air traffic organisations, regulators and global SWx centres. The workshop was hosted by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) with the main goal of engaging aviation stakeholders in discussions on the ICAO Space Weather Information Service (SWIS). Short introductions to the SWIS services including recent space weather activity, advisory statistics and aviation impacts were presented together with focused panel discussions identifying the current level of understanding of the services, together with future needs and possible service gaps.
A dedicated interactive space weather exercise based on recent space weather activity during January 2026 was provided to further trigger discussions, promote understanding and train users response to ongoing space weather activity.
The discussions focused on the operational use of SWx advisories for GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems, such as GPS and Galileo), High Frequency communications (HF ; 3-30 MHz), and radiation, and previous and upcoming format changes to make the advisories more precise for flight operations. Cases of simultaneously ongoing GNSS and HF COM outages, combined with possible radiation events were of particular interest to the end-user community.
Some of the workshop outcomes include the need to further increase the awareness of and provide training on space weather services among the aviation community, the necessity to engage more with aircraft manifacturers to better understand the space weather risks on aviation systems, and the need to collaborate with other ICAO panels to further improve the existing regulatory framework.
STCE contributions
The STCE contributed in various ways:
- A combined talk on "Introduction to SWX and the ICAO SWX Information Service (SWIS)” was presented by Yana Maneva (ROB/SIDC – STCE/PECASUS), Robyn Fiori (Natural Resources Canada - ACFJ) and Mpho Tshisaphungo (SANSA - Regional ICAO SWXC).
- STCE prepared an interactive SWX Exercise moderated by Yana Maneva engaging with end-users on the current status of the service provision with real examples from the recent event in January 2026.
- STCE provided SWIS Education and Guidance Material, including a new version of the ICAO Flyer.
- Within the ICAO MOG User Engagement Ad Hoc Group together with various partners from ICAO, ACFJ, SWPC, IFALPA and IATA among others, the STCE/SIDC continues to engage in service improvements, to prepare tools and training for future space weather workshops and respond actively to the needs of the aviation end-user community. Clarifications on the advisory service and the ongoing support of more accurate impact area definitions (based on 6 corners polygons) help dispatchers, pilots and ANSPs (Air Navigation Service Providers) to improve their risk estimations and choose workable routes, altitudes and HF frequencies (3-30 MHz). STCE continues to reflect these changes in its pilots guidance material and forecaster workflows to keep aviation users aligned with the evolving ICAO SWIS.
The full workshop program is available here.
The latest version of the ICAO flyer is available in the STCE Shop (ICAO SWx Information Service).
This newsitem was written with the kind contribution of Dr Yana Maneva.
