Using AI at Alaska

[FlyNKD]

https://time.com/6050921/artificial-intelligence-air-travel/

Found this article interesting - so does this AI Bot integrate with their flight planning system or is it a stand alone product?

 

[noalternate]

At the moment, it is a web-based standalone product, but we can cook up the route and then import it directly into the flight planning system. There are different ideas being tossed around as to how it will look in a final version, but no decisions that I am aware of have been made. Overall it has been a pretty good system, but like any other new thing there have been plenty of bugs to work through.

 

[4EngineETOPS]

I'm not familiar with Alaska's flight planning software, so apologies if this is a stupid question. What does Flyways do that the route optimizer engine in most flight planning software does not?

 

[F9DXER]

UA is looking at it also. Flyways looks at real time info, what other flights are doing, what ATC is doing, etc etc and looks at ways to save time on a flight. Even if you accept those changes, input it into your FPS and advise the crew and ATC accepts it - I have found that currently it does not meet the time savings it suggests. Also a dispatcher doesn't have time to constantly check if that route actually saves time. Also remember it doesn't look at TS or turbulent areas - its just looking to save time.

 

[A1TAPE]

UA is looking at it also. Flyways looks at real time info, what other flights are doing, what ATC is doing, etc etc and looks at ways to save time on a flight. Even if you accept those changes, input it into your FPS and advise the crew and ATC accepts it - I have found that currently it does not meet the time savings it suggests. Also a dispatcher doesn't have time to constantly check if that route actually saves time. Also remember it doesn't look at TS or turbulent areas - its just looking to save time.

What about if ATC doesn't accept it and at the last minute ATC forces a perferred or WX avoidance route? Does it take into account that or would it force a fuel uplift?

 

[Luigi]

There’s a fair amount of misinformation in here. I honestly dislike talking about it, because I’m iffy on flyways. Flyways will take reroutes into account and tell you when you’re not on a required reroute. Also, flyways takes all restricted airspace into account when building routes. It’s actually a really cool system. Personally I find it’s weather avoidance systems to be basically useless, but that’s up to you as the dispatcher.

All in all it’s a decent program, that’s getting better all the time.

 

[Burrito]

[.. .] a dispatcher doesn't have time to constantly check if that route actually saves time. Also remember it doesn't look at TS or turbulent areas - its just looking to save time.

Recalling this one from some FAM rides up front while I was exploring everywhere outside of Ohio. . .


"Most DXers I knew wouldn't check for TS either. Everything's become about time. Click, click, click, send it. And it sucks. We get a little busy up here too."

Just remembered that chat and put a smile on my face.

 

[TEMPO]

Also remember it doesn't look at TS or turbulent areas - its just looking to save time.

Sorry, this isn't true.

 

[noalternate]

No, it does take WX, turbulence, airspace restrictions, etc into account, but it isn't perfect yet and you do need to take it's suggestions with a grain of salt... but has improved since we started using it last year. The AI engine is built to have the flight avoid planned echo tops, not base or composite reflectivity, so the margins are a lot closer... I have had some success with it, but it is close.

As for the time savings, I don't agree that the dispatcher doesn't have time to check actual vs. planned times... unless there is a lot going on there is time to do this, you just have to want to do it! The problem is that a lot of crews, especially on the longer routes, still think that taking the direct from Ohio to the arrival on the west coast is going to save them time, and we haven't convinced everyone to stick with the planned routes yet so they aren't flying what is on the paperwork... hence we really can't make comparisons.

 

[ASADispatch]

Somebody new will get a chance to use it. We should be hiring around December of this year.

 

[Minuteman]

There’s a fair amount of misinformation in here. I honestly dislike talking about it, because I’m iffy on flyways.

I'm curious: how much of using the system become a "bad data detector?" And do y'all have pathways to report/fix that data?

 

[Luigi]

I'm curious: how much of using the system become a "bad data detector?" And do y'all have pathways to report/fix that data?

Yes there are fixes. And we can always report issues. Also those issues are fixed almost immediately.

Truthfully I’d like to stay out of this…

 

[Space Monkey]

I'm not familiar with Alaska's flight planning software, so apologies if this is a stupid question. What does Flyways do that the route optimizer engine in most flight planning software does not?

Lol... "Route Optimizer." Is that like a "planar-positioned nutrient processing device" (a fork on the table)? Want to know the secret sauce algorithm behind most routing software? One simple question to ask: "Between point A and point B, what was the last route cleared by ATC!

 

[TEMPO]

Lol... "Route Optimizer." Is that like a "planar-positioned nutrient processing device" (a fork on the table)? Want to know the secret sauce algorithm behind most routing software? One simple question to ask: "Between point A and point B, what was the last route cleared by ATC!

Mmmm, no. This is different.

 

[Space Monkey]

Mmmm, no. This is different.

Could be. Should be. Marketed as such. But, no. It's not really different in 99% of case use. As with most shiny objects, it's mostly just shiny.

 

[TEMPO]

Could be. Should be. Marketed as such. But, no. It's not really different in 99% of case use. As with most shiny objects, it's mostly just shiny.

Cool, so you use it every day? You work with the company and know how the engine works? What did they tell you when you said "this is just like every other product, except for the marketing"?

 

[4EngineETOPS]

Found another interesting article on it, although it contains the usual media cliches and lack of nuance.

How an A.I. system decides what path your plane should fly

Alaska Airlines has become the first airline to use A.I. software compared to "Waze for the skies" to dispatch its flights

fortune.com

Flyways seems like it would be an interesting acquisition for a larger flight planning provider (Sabre, NavBlue, the Jeppesen JetPlan engine, etc). Integrating Flyways AI-based route optimizer directly into a flight planning system would make it that much more valuable to line dispatchers.

 

[LastMinuteAirline]

I've talked with some of the Flyways employees and it sounds more to me (my own opinion from our conversations) like their ambition is to eventually (distant future) expand their product to be a one stop shop for flight planning, routing, FSM, and ASD. One of their main goals is to reduce the number of products dispatchers use on a daily basis.