American Airlines is getting ready for the summer travel season when they expect more people to travel by air. According to the airline, it will have a total of 469,461 departures between May 25 and August 14, and the company expects to carry 52 million people during that time, as reported by NBC Dallas.
“We are expecting a very busy summer,” Julie Rath, Senior Vice President of Airport Operations at American Airlines, told NBC Dallas. Rath also said, “We have been planning for this since last year.”
Rath shared that American Airlines has been looking for all positions in preparation for the summer travel season. She claims that 1,000 new people have been hired at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which is a major hub for American Airlines. Preparations have been going on for a few months, and hiring people has been a top concern since January.
Using Technology To Navigate Summer Travel
Rath stressed that she leads a team that is responsible for planning, carrying out, and getting back on track after any problems, whether bad weather or other factors are the cause. According to the executive, they think about things like air traffic control, the number of crew members who are available, and estimates of bad weather.
“It helps us run the airline and keeps customers from having to deal with too many flight cancellations,” Rath said, “The system has been working very well.”
American Airlines uses both technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to make its operations more efficient. They’ve put in place a system called smart gating, which lets computers decide which gate new flights should go to. The most important goal is to save time.
Rath stressed that “every minute and second we save in running an airline is important.” Cutting down on taxiway time is good for the environment and gives travelers more time to get to their next places.
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