The airport tech helping to prevent delayed flights.

 

Air travel comes with many annoyances, and one of the biggest is flight delays.

You are sat in the departure lounge, growing ever more frustrated and checking the flight information display every minute for your late departure.

When the board finally tells you the gate number, it can be a 15-minute walk away. And then you may face an additional wait before you can board.

Delayed flights remain a common problem on both sides of the Atlantic. Official figures show 11% of UK flights were delayed in the second quarter of last year, while 16% of US flights took off late in 2021 as a whole.

There are often multiple reasons behind delays but could include ground crews running late with aircraft refuelling, the airport struggling to deal with the sheer volume of passengers or having to wait for the pilots, or bad weather.

One strategy to reduce delays is the increased use of high-tech monitoring technology, to help airports and airlines run more efficiently.