British Airways has achieved its highest-ever on-time performance, powered by a major investment in artificial intelligence and digital innovation as part of its £7 billion transformation program.

“Improving operational performance is a key part of our investment programme because we know the impact delays and disruption can have on our customers. The tech colleagues have at their fingertips has been a real gamechanger for performance, giving them the confidence to make informed decisions for our customers based on a rapid assessment of vast amounts of data. It’s exciting that our industry is able to harness this capability, which will develop even further in the months and years to come,” said Sean Doyle, British Airways Chairman and Chief Executive.

In the first quarter of 2025, 86% of BA flights departed on time from London Heathrow—its best D-15 performance to date, up from 46% in 2008. On 38 of the 89 days in the quarter, over 90% of flights departed on time.

In April, two-thirds of Heathrow departures even left ahead of schedule, which is double the figure from the same period last year.

A key part of the improvement stems from a £100 million investment in operational resilience, including new roles at Heathrow and a suite of AI-powered tools. These range from real-time weather rerouting software to intelligent stand-allocation systems and predictive disruption management platforms. The initiatives have already prevented over 400,000 minutes of delays.

With over 100 data scientists and more than 800 digital change projects underway, British Airways has nearly completed the migration of its systems to the cloud—strengthening digital stability and preparing for further innovation in flight operations.

Additional AI-based apps for pilots, crew and dispatch teams will roll out in the coming months to streamline aircraft turnaround and further boost punctuality.