British Airways says a multi-million-dollar investment in artifical intelligence is behind a startling improvement in its operational improvement over the last 12 months, transforming the airline into one of the most on-time carriers in the world.
In the first three months of 2025, British Airways claims 86% of flights departed its London Heathrow hub on time – up from a meager 46% in 2008.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, British Airways was the 7th most on-time global carrier in 2025 and the 8th most on-time airline in Europe. Twelve months ago, British Airways languished far lower in the global rankings with delays and cancellations, a frustrating daily experience that haunted the airline.
A flight is considered on-time if it pushes back from the gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled departure time – a critically important metric for airlines that is known within the aviation industry as D-15.
British Airways’ has scored a record-breaking D-15 performance in the first quarter of 2025, and chief executive Sean Doyle believes that’s down to the airline’s recent investments in artificial intelligence.
“Improving operational performance is a key part of our investment program because we know the impact delays and disruption can have on our customers,” Doyle said at a travel summit in Pittsburg.
“Whilst 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.”
Sean Doyle, BA Chief Executive
“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,” Doyle continued.
British Airways often talks of a massive £7 billion investment it has secured to transform its business, although it is worth noting that more than half of this budget has been set aside for new airplanes that will mainly replace rapidly aging planes that are older than most of the airline’s cabin crew.
That being said, £100 million has been earmarked to improve BA’s operational performance, which has paved the way for major transformation initiatives like moving the airline’s dilapidated IT systems to the cloud and deploying AI-enabled software that is making various departments across the business work better.
The investment has had such a transformational effect that in April two thirds of flights departing Heathrow actually pushed back from the gate before their scheduled departure time.
Not only is the AI software helping to get flights departing on time, but it is also preventing passengers from missing tight connections. One such system analyzes data in real-time to identify passengers with tight connections on arriving flights and assigns gates close to where their next flight will be boarding.
Another system analyzes weather forecasts to automatically reroute flights and communicate directly with air traffic control centers across Europe. Both of these systems have so far saved more than 400,000 minutes in delays.
Matt’s take – Operational performance is critically important to the customer experience
There’s nothing sexy about operational performance, but it’s a well-known fact in the airline industry that on-time performance is the most important factor in determining customer satisfaction, traversing every other touchpoint across a passenger’s journey.
Passengers on flights that depart on time are more likely to score every other aspect of their journey better than someone on a delayed flight. The food tastes better, the onboard entertainment is more enjoyable, and the cabin crew are more friendly.
And it’s not just about improving the customer experience. Running an on-time airline is much more financially efficient than constantly being on the back foot.
