British Airways uses AI to break 90% punctuality barrier for Heathrow flights

Airline says a $113 million investment has yielded dramatic improvements in performance

British Airways says it has dramatically improved punctuality at Heathrow Airport. Getty Images

British Airways says using AI has allowed it to increase punctuality at Heathrow, to a level where more than 90 per cent of its flights are leaving on time.

The airline said it has invested £100 million ($133 million) in improving its operational resilience, which has funded the development of a range of digital tools and apps.

British Airways has been dogged by IT failures, which have caused chaos for passengers left stranded at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. Last year, a glitch left pilots unable to file flight plans, while in 2017 an error during a systems upgrade brought the entire BA Heathrow operation to a standstill.

British Airways has now revealed the first quarter of 2025 saw 86 per cent of its flights leave on time from its London Heathrow base, which represents a punctuality performance record. The previous high was 46 per cent in 2008.

Throughout the quarter, the airline boasts that its flights achieved 90 per cent plus on-time departures on 38 of the 89 operational days.

In April, two-thirds of all British Airways flights departing from Heathrow left ahead of their departure time. The figure is more than double the number that achieved this for the same period in 2023 and almost 20 per cent more than those that did in 2024.

British Airways boss Sean Doyle said the improvements will reduce disruption for its passengers. Photo: British Airways

Examples of how it has used AI include one system that enables staff to allocate aircraft landing at Heathrow to stands based on a live analysis of passengers’ onward travel plans, reducing the likelihood of missed connections. This is estimated to have saved 160,000 minutes of delays.

Another system proactively reroutes aircraft to avoid areas of poor weather, preventing some 243,000 minutes of delays.

Over the coming months, additional tools and programmes are also being deployed to further improve operational performance. These include new apps for pilots, cabin crew teams and aircraft dispatch teams to help speed-up aircraft departures.

British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle said what the “tech colleagues have at their fingertips has been a real game-changer for performance” and allows them to make rapid decisions to help get flights away on time.

“Improving operational performance is a key part of our investment programme because we know the impact delays and disruption can have on our customers,” Mr Doyle told an innovation summit in Pittsburgh in the US

“While disruption to our flights is often outside of our control, our focus has been on improving the factors we can directly influence and putting in place the best possible solutions for our customers when it does happen.”

Mr Doyle said the airline will start using additional AI tools over the coming months and has created is looking at devising better ways of working on the ground at Heathrow, as well as creating an additional 600 operational roles into the airport.

British Airways says it has doubled the number flights leaving on time over the past year. Reuters

“It’s exciting that our industry is able to harness this capability, which will develop even further in the months and years to come,” he said.

Meanwhile, Heathrow itself has revealed it has the best departure punctuality out of the major European hubs. The airport did not name any of its rivals but Istanbul, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Amsterdam's Schipol airport and Frankfurt are the next busiest hubs in Europe.

The airport also said 99 per cent of bags were delivered on time and 97 per cent of passengers clearing security in under five minutes.

Other airlines deploying AI to improve their performance include Abu Dhabi based Etihad, which says it will roll out the technology across its operations from bookings and complaints to in-flight streaming.

Dubai will use artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technology to redesign the check-in, security and immigration procedures at its planned passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport.