ATIS Alerts Brings Free Airport Weather and FAA Ground Stop Alerts to Any Pilot’s Phone Through Telegram
The free atisalerts.com bot watches a pilot’s home airport around the clock and sends a Telegram message the moment the ATIS changes, the flight category flips, or the FAA issues a ground stop — no app to install beyond Telegram and no account to create.
LONGWOOD, FL, August 18, 2026 — atisalerts.com, the free aviation-weather site, today announced that its Telegram alert bot is free for every pilot’s home airport, with FAA ground stop and closure alerts included. Pilots pick an airport and the bot watches it around the clock, sending a Telegram message to their phone the moment the ATIS broadcast changes, the flight category moves between VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR, or the FAA stops departures to that airport. There is no app to install beyond Telegram and no account to create.
Setup happens inside Telegram in about a minute. Opening the bot and tapping Set Up My Alerts walks the pilot through a short wizard: what kind of flying they do, which airport to watch, and a recommended alert package. From then on the bot checks that airport every minute against the same sources that power the website — digital ATIS where the airport broadcasts one, official METAR and TAF reports from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center everywhere else, and the FAA’s National Airspace System status for ground stops, ground delay programs and closures.
The free plan sends smart “what changed” alerts rather than every raw update: a new ATIS information letter at a digital-ATIS airport, a change of flight category, a ground stop or closure at the tracked airport, and one scheduled outlook each morning. The bot only messages people who have started it themselves, and every pilot acknowledges the planning-aid notice during setup: the alerts are situational awareness, not a substitute for an official briefing.
Key benefits for pilots
- One airport, watched around the clock, free. The free plan covers a pilot’s home airport with smart change alerts, flight-category alerts and a morning outlook at 7:00 local, with a week of alert history to look back on.
- Ground stops and closures the moment the FAA issues them. When the FAA stops departures to the tracked airport or closes it, the alert arrives with the FAA’s stated reason and times, on the free plan.
- ATIS letter changes at digital-ATIS airports. Towers that broadcast a digital ATIS issue a new information letter whenever the weather, the runways in use or the approaches change. The bot relays the new letter and what changed, so a pilot on the ramp knows before calling clearance.
- Premium for the rest of the fleet. For about $4 a month, billed through Telegram Stars, Premium adds up to 10 airports, raw every-update ATIS, TAF heads-ups, personal minimums for ceiling, visibility, wind and crosswind, hazard alerts for thunderstorms, SIGMETs and wind shear, quiet hours, up to five scheduled outlooks, the full FAA delay module with ground delay programs, arrival and departure delays and regional views, and 90 days of history.
Key benefits for travelers
- Know about a ground stop before the airline says so. Track the airport you are flying out of and the bot sends the FAA ground stop to your phone the moment it is published, with the reason and the expected end time.
- See the whole picture on the delays hub. The website lists every active ground stop and ground delay program nationwide with the FAA’s reasons and times, so a traveler can see whether a connection is at risk.
- Weather in plain language. Alerts name the flight category and the conditions behind it, and the website explains what VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR mean for a flight.
- Nothing new to install. Telegram is free on iPhone, Android and desktop, and the alerts arrive as ordinary messages that can be muted, searched and shared.
Built to stay quiet until it matters
The bot is designed around the pilot’s attention rather than the volume of data. Free alerts fire only on meaningful changes, not every observation; the morning outlook is one message, not a stream; and the bot never contacts anyone who has not opened it and completed setup. Every alert links back to the airport’s page on atisalerts.com, where the full METAR, TAF, ATIS text and FAA status can be read in context.
“Pilots don’t need another app. They need the one message that matters: the ATIS letter just changed, the field just went IFR, the FAA just stopped departures. Telegram is free, works on any phone, and takes about a minute to set up, so that is where we put the alerts.”
Availability
The bot is live now. Pilots can start at atisalerts.com/telegram or open @atisalerts_bot directly in Telegram. The free plan covers one airport with smart change, flight-category, ground stop and closure alerts and a daily outlook. Premium adds up to 10 airports and the full alert set for about $4 a month through Telegram Stars. atisalerts.com is not affiliated with the FAA, and nothing on the site or in the alerts is approved for operational use.
About ATIS Alerts
atisalerts.com is a free aviation-weather website and Telegram alert service, independently built and operated in Longwood, Florida. The site puts live METAR, TAF and D-ATIS for every US airport on one page, alongside runway-by-runway wind and configuration intelligence, FAA delay and TFR tracking, multi-year weather rankings, and free pilot tools. Its Telegram bot messages pilots the moment an ATIS broadcast changes or the weather drops below their personal minimums. ATIS Alerts is not affiliated with the FAA, and nothing on the site is approved for operational use: it is a planning and situational-awareness aid, and pilots must verify conditions with official FAA-approved sources before flight.
Media contact
support@atisalerts.com. Put “Press” in the subject line. Screenshots and logo files are available on request.
⚠️ Not for operational use. Always verify with official FAA-approved preflight weather sources before flight.