The FAA is moving up the deployment of a modernized notam service to September. Internally targeted for the end of the year, the agency had used an accelerated schedule to shave off time for the new architecture to come online.

“A major notam system outage in January 2023 highlighted the fragility of the system and the need to speed up the modernization,” the FAA noted in announcing plans for deployment. That outage led to the passage of the Notam Improvement Act of 2023, which called on the FAA to implement a new system—with backup—by September 2024. The bill also established a Notam Task Force to look at short- and long-term improvements to the system.

Then-acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen had told Congress at the time that 2025 would be a potential target, but the agency was working to expedite the effort. The FAA said it used a “streamlined, innovative vendor challenge to cut through the red tape to get this critical work done as fast as possible.”

CGI Federal, the selected contractor, now expects to deliver the Notam Modernization Service by July, putting it on pace to become operational in September.

Noting that more than four million notams are issued annually, the FAA said the modernization will facilitate a more efficient flow of data and stakeholder collaboration. Hosted in a secure site in the cloud, the service will be scalable.

The FAA said it was also designed with resilient architecture, which is even more critical given outages that have occurred in recent years.

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), which participated in the task force, the revamped notam service “is being built from the ground up as a truly modern, 21st-century product, with performance and stability at its core.” The association said the initial rollout is expected to incorporate many recommendations of the task force, but many of the initial changes would be “behind the scenes.”

Most pilots obtain their notams through third-party flight planning vendors, AOPA explained, but the vendors will have access to a more reliable service and more options to improve the presentation of them.

The task force submitted 42 recommendations to Congress covering a range of issues, including notam creation, format, distribution, and policy. AOPA expects many more of the recommendations to be gradually implemented in upcoming years.

But the association said in a recent article: “Between the new notam service coming in a few months and the policy improvements to come, we are expecting to finally see some positive steps forward, with more improvements over the next few years than we have seen in decades.”

“The notice to airmen system is deeply outdated and showing serious cracks,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen multiple system outages ground regional air travel, create extensive delays, and otherwise ruin the flying experience for the American people. It’s time our technology enters the 21st century. Notam modernization is the first step.”