Introduction

This document defines the application text formats for character-oriented Air Traffic Services (ATS) messages that can be transmitted over the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) data link. Several ACARS data links are available, including but not limited to, VHF, HF and satellite. The messages defined in this document are not specific to any data link.

This document is limited in scope to character-oriented applications. Bit-oriented applications are defined in a number of documents. See ARINC Specification 622 for references to these applications. The format/content of character-oriented messages is not consistent with bit-oriented messages.