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The boss of British Airways said that “revolutionary” AI technology has helped to considerably reduce the number of cancellations and delays in the airline, which is fighting to restore its reputation after years of operational problems.
In the first quarter, 86% of BA flights since Heathrow left in time, according to data from the airline, which, according to him, was its best performance ever recorded.
A distinct analysis of the financial times for the data regulator of the United Kingdom’s aviation regulator has shown that BA flights from the airport have been less likely to deal with serious disruptions than competitors in the 12 months ending in February, although the number of delays of more than an hour is still above pre-countryic levels.
Ba was struggling with an increasing number of disturbed flights since the end of the pandemic, in particular its London center at Heathrow airport.
But Sean Doyle, director general of British Airways, said that the performance of the airline had improved after having invested 100 million pounds sterling in its “operational resilience”, including in new AI technologies and 600 additional employees in Heathrow.
“Although the disruption of our flights is often outside our control, our goal was to improve the factors that we can influence directly …
Investments have included the upgrading of its notoriously unreliable IT systems, which underwent a series of high level failures in 2017, 2019 and 2022.
BA said that its new AI software included a tool that calculates how to respond to disturbances so that it affects the lowest number of possible customers, such as delaying a flight, or canceling it and reading people in the following plan.
Other tools include a program that proactively reduces planes to avoid bad weather areas, and another that cracks passenger travel plans to send planes to the most practical stand at Heathrow airport.
The carrier has long been suffering from the technology of grinks, operational complexity and exposure to Heathrow airport in London, which works near full capacity.
Last summer, the flight delays and the cancellations of the airline towards and from Heathrow had more than doubled from the cocovio pandemic.
“They had to run. We know that all the airlines leaving Covid struggled, but Ba really had difficulty,” said John Strickland, aviation consultant.
However, Strickland said that the imminent advanced summer season will be a biggest challenge for BA than the first quarter, which is generally the most silent of airlines.
The airline has partially blamed external factors for its problems, including delays in air traffic control and reception delays for engines and other Rolls-Royce spare parts for its Boeing 787 long-haul aircraft.
Last year, the owner of British Airways unveiled an investment of 7 billion pounds sterling in the airline, aimed both to improve its operational reliability and to make the brand above.
Luis Gallego, Managing Director of IAG, told the FT in August that Ba “can do … much better”, he added, and the investment was considered by many analysts as an admission that BA had been seriously underperforming.
