Definition
An airport or facility closure published with no scheduled reopening date, remaining in effect until a subsequent NOTAM or notice formally cancels it. UFN closures are typically issued for airports that are closed indefinitely due to construction, abandonment, loss of certification, or other long-term conditions, and they cause the airport's instrument approach procedures to be removed or restricted from charting and use.
Plain English
A closure that stays in place with no end date — the airport stays closed until someone officially says it's open again.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA airport information, charting updates, and instrument procedure discussions when an airport has been closed indefinitely.
Derivation
UFN stands for 'Until Further Notice.' The phrase 'until further notice' has been used in official notices for centuries to mean 'this stays in force until we say otherwise.' The FAA adopted the abbreviation as shorthand for closures with no published end date.
Why Pilots Care
Pilots must plan alternate routes or airports because the facility will not reopen on a predictable schedule.
Analogy
It is like a sign on a shop that says, “Closed until further notice.” It does not give a reopening time; you assume it is closed until the sign or an official update changes.
Intuition Check
Do not read UFN closure as a short temporary closure with an expected reopening time. It means the closure has no published end date and remains in effect until officially changed.
Example Sentence 1
The chart supplement noted that the airport was closed UFN, so the crew selected a different alternate for the flight plan.
Example Sentence 2
Due to the UFN closure, no operations were allowed until the next update.