SEATTLE - Alaska Airlines is testing a predictive AI-powered schedule optimization tool to determine when to schedule its planes, the company said in October. The tool was developed by Odysee, the first startup out of a partnership between Alaska Airlines’ investment arm, Alaska Star Ventures, and tech incubator UP.Labs, Britney Ngueyen writes for Quartz. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
7 November 2024 - "We currently have to go and look at each flight that we’re changing individually," Kirsten Amrine, vice president of revenue management and network planning at Alaska told Fast Company in its piece on 4 November. "[But] with this product, we’re able to say ‘here’s the schedule I have now, I’m going to try this solution where I change the timings of six flights,’ push a button and it says ‘here’s what the revenue is’. It’s just much better than a human being can do on their own."
Odysee’s AI schedule optimization tool uses machine learning, combining multiple AI models to simulate and forecast the revenue effects of potential changes to Alaska Airlines' flight schedules, says CEO Steve Casley. Trained on data from over 700,000 Alaska flight segments from 2022 and 2023, the tool predicted the outcomes of human-made scheduling changes with 90% accuracy. However, it performs less accurately in newer or low-demand Alaska markets where data is limited.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
