The FAA has launched the first phase of its new Notice to Airmen Management Service (NMS), a cloud-based system designed to replace legacy platforms dating back to the 1980s. The NMS went live Sept. 29.
During this first phase, in which the system is not yet available publicly, only a select number of initial users and connection points are being migrated to the system. The system is part of an accelerated modernization effort announced earlier this year by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
“This is the promises made, promises kept administration,” Duffy said in a Department of Transportation release. “We are bringing our aviation system into the 21st century at lightning speed to enhance safety in our skies.”
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford added, “We built a brand-new NOTAM service from the ground up in record time. It is resilient, user-friendly, and scalable, and will significantly improve airspace safety and efficiency.”
The FAA data shows that more than 128,000 NOTAMs have already been processed through the platform, with over 70,000 active notices on Monday.
The agency said the transition to NMS will occur in phases, with full replacement of the existing U.S. NOTAM System and Federal NOTAM System scheduled for late spring 2026. More than 12,000 users worldwide are expected to move to the service, which will become the single authoritative source for all NOTAMs, according to the FAA.
The updated system includes a new interface, near-real-time data exchange, and support for plain-language and graphical presentation of notices through third-party providers. The FAA said it plans to conduct training and onboarding for users during all phases of the transition to help ensure that all stakeholders are prepared before the switchover is finalized.
This sounds like a necessary first step. The plain text and graphical notices will be very useful. I would still like to see closed runways and taxiways displayed in red on my airport diagram. And changes to instrument approaches could be displayed in red on the approach chart. And can we please get rid of useless NOTAMs like “obstacles at 2 feet above ground level?”
I like the new format. Would love to see all the obstructions grouped. What does the ASN number mean? Could that be eliminated for brevity? The permanent changes need to be eliminated as soon as they’re charted, they just clutter up the system otherwise. Our airport had the rotating beacon location changed over a year ago and it’s still in the NOTAMs.
The NOTAM format dates back to telegraphs with their limited bandwidth, and it shows. All caps, cryptic abbreviations, no paragraph breaks. . . It’s been completely unnecessry for decades, and it’s a nightmare for those of us who believe we should make reading comprehension easier, not harder.