The airline’s artificial intelligence tools are part of a £100 million investment in operational resilience.
A British Airways Airbus A320 being pushed back at Heathrow. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
British Airways is using artificial intelligence to help keep its flights on schedule.
The airline reported that, with the implementation of AI tools, on-time departures at the carrier’s home base at Heathrow Airport in London have climbed to 86%, up dramatically from 2008, when that figure stood at 46%. Last month, two-thirds of all the airline’s flights leaving Heathrow took off ahead of their departure time, double the rate for April 2023 and up almost 20% from April 2024.
“The tech colleagues have at their fingertips has been a real gamechanger for performance, giving them the confidence to make informed decisions for our customers based on a rapid assessment of vast amounts of data,” British Airways Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle said in a statement. “It’s exciting that our industry is able to harness this capability, which will develop even further in the months years to come.”
A British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
British Airways said the development of AI tools is part of a broader £100 million investment in operational resilience, equivalent to about $132 million. The effort has allowed the airline to hire over 100 data scientists since 2023.
Among the new programs is a tool that helps British Airways employees allocate landing space at Heathrow based on analysis of passengers’ travel patterns and connecting flights. The system has reduced missed connections at the airport and saved about 160,000 minutes of delays since its rollout, the airline said. A similar tool is being used to highlight routes that could face holdups, allowing teams to better allocate resources to make sure those flights still take off on time.
The airline’s Runway Support program helps mitigate the effects of travel disruptions by pulling in and analyzing massive amounts of information about schedules, passengers, and crews to calculate the most appropriate response.
Depending on the circumstances, the AI may recommend canceling a flight, delaying a departure, or switching passengers to a different aircraft. Runway Support has been used to model 163 disruptions across 2024 and 2025.
British Airways is also using AI to predict the weather and its effect on travel. This tool helps reroute flights that could face poor flying conditions and communicates those plans directly to British and European air traffic control centers. The predictive technology has prevented 243,000 minutes of delays so far.
A number of airlines are now testing and rolling out AI-assisted programs to enhance operations, including United, whose Connection Saver is designed to help passengers make their connecting flights on time. American is trying out similar technology at some of its hub airports starting this summer.
British Airways said it plans to test and debut more AI tools in the coming months, including new apps for pilots, cabin crew teams, and aircraft dispatch teams to help speed up departures.
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