The development in recent years of trans-oceanic flying has raised new problems, both in regard to the design of aircraft of increased range and performance and the operational and technical questions involved, and also from the point of view of the ancillary services—radio and meteorology—on which the successful operation of an air route must, ultimately, depend.

The importance of an organised meteorological service as an adjunct to the safe, regular and economical operation of an air route has been recognised from the earliest days of civil aviation. Meteorology, however, must play an even greater part in the operation of long trans-oceanic routes than in the case of the shorter routes such as those which form a network over Europe.