BRITISH Airways is investing a staggering £7billion in AI to cut delays, speed-up baggage handling and bookings – and ensure jets never run out of bubbly.
The Sun was the first media outlet invited inside the airline’s new security-restricted nerve centre – dubbed ‘Mission Control’ – to showcase cutting edge technology making flying better.
The carrier’s biggest-ever outlay in its business is revolutionising how it works – soaring past rivals with a data-led automated operation which allows passenger complaints to be resolved in real time.
As we were ushered inside BA’s Integrated Operations Control Centre on Wednesday, 95,513 passengers were waiting to board one of the airline’s 712 flights.
In the hectic summer months British Airways can handle around 140,000 flyers on 850 services a day.
And considering unscheduled issues will hit passengers on around 70% of flights, that’s a lot of unhappy flyers needing urgent help.
So six separate computer systems for different areas of BA have now been jettisoned for one giant global interface which unites the airline – streamlining services and tracking aircraft movements.
The live-data is beamed into BA’s Heathrow hub on huge screens, allowing bosses to take pre-emptive action to limit operational hazards.
“It’s like an elaborate game of computer puzzle Tetris”, Richard Anderson, the airline’s Director of Global Operations, told The Sun.
Ground-breaking immediate responses to limit disruption are now the norm – meaning a smoother and seamless travel experience for flyers.
Latest technology allows managers to liaise with crew and passengers at 30,000ft as problems arise.
The Sun looked on as staff monitored 700 flights in a 24-hour period, with 40 flights in motion at one time.
Electronic updates inside the nerve centre revealed the carrier was hitting 90% punctuality on services leaving Heathrow before 9.30am.
A huge 50% of BA’s operations fly out of the West London airport.
Across the hub, BA’s ‘Pre-Ops’ team allocates its fleet of 256 aircraft to the airline’s monster schedule.
Staff work alongside the new decision support tool ‘Pathfinder’ to create the optimal combination between aircraft and flights up to 10 days before departure.
The technology uses swathes of data to create a flight schedule minimising delays after analysing weather, air traffic control, aircraft capacity and customer connections.
And BA staff are ready and able to react to sudden events in seconds.
The Sun observed as a weather storm closed in in Iceland, meaning extra BA jets were allocated to the region to ensure passengers would not be stranded.
And hotels were immediately lined up for any passengers still unable to leave Keflavik.
Strike disruption in Frankfurt meant switching the schedule so bigger BA jets with more seats could fly to Germany, preventing travel chaos and stranded passengers.
A passenger dropped off by her mother at the airport in Dusseldorf for a flight to LA via London was airborne when her mum tragically died in a car crash.
BA sorted all the logistics for the devastated flyer, meaning she dodged a four hour US Customs delay in the US and so immediately caught a return flight from LA, landing back in Germany the following day.
Another passenger who missed his Heathrow flight couldn’t then reach his scheduled connection in Hong Kong to get to his son’s graduation in Sydney.
Read the full story originally published on the The Sun