Definition
A text-based version of the standard ATIS broadcast that delivers current airport information — including weather, active runways, approaches in use, and other operational notices — to aircraft and flight crews via datalink rather than by voice radio.
Plain English
It is the same airport arrival and departure information you would normally hear on the ATIS frequency, but sent as text through a digital link so the crew can read it instead of listening to it.
Context Anchor
Seen at airports that provide ATIS information by electronic message, especially before departure, before arrival, or before the first call to air traffic control.
Derivation
Digital simply means the information is sent as data rather than spoken over a radio. ATIS itself stands for Automatic Terminal Information Service — automatic because it loops continuously without a controller reading it each time, terminal because it covers the airport area.
Why Pilots Care
Allows pilots to receive ATIS information silently without monitoring the voice frequency, reducing radio congestion and pilot workload.
Intuition Check
Do not read terminal as the passenger building here. In this term, terminal means the airport operating area around arrivals and departures; digital means the message is delivered electronically, not that the information itself is different.
Example Sentence 1
Before pushback, the first officer pulled up D-ATIS on the cockpit display and noted that information Bravo was current.
Example Sentence 2
Digital-Automatic Terminal Information Service updates were automatically displayed on the aircraft's multifunction display.