American Airlines struggles to speed up gate allocation for planes with 15 gates and 10 airplanes, but a machine-learning solution will put an end to that.
Gate allocation is a challenge for airlines because there are several factors to consider, including the availability of gates, schedule of flights, size of aircraft, and other needs of connecting passengers. Plus, the possibility of delays that can happen at the last minute. For airlines, this leads to more fuel wastage, longer taxi times, and further delays.
For customers, they end up spending more time waiting for the plane to park at an available gate, experiencing delayed flights, and more.
Per BBC, while other airlines rely on Excel and Word to manage flight operations, they have been using AI, specifically, the machine learning system called Smart Gating. Currently operating at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, this system quickly assigns planes to the nearest available gate.
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American Airlines' Machine Learning for Gate Allocation
According to American Airlines' newsroom, machine learning uses real-time flight data to do the automated assigning, which is attainable in just 10 minutes. Prior to the application of this system, manual gate assignment takes over 4 hours.
Overall, it cuts aircraft taxi times by 20% and can save jet fuel worth 1.4 million gallons each year.
With improved results for American Airlines, the BBC report also shared that Lufthansa will be exploring a more advanced solution using quantum computing, which will hopefully be much faster than traditional computers. In the future, the best quantum algorithms could not just optimize gate assignment, but also adapt to last-minute changes. Compared to American Airlines' 20%, this promises to cut passenger transit times by almost 50%.
Over time, with more international borders opening, millions of people will travel every day. Experts, airline executives, and staff now call for using better and improved technology to manage resources efficiently to accommodate more flights without building new terminals, runways, and normal flight hassles.
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