A familiar scenario?

Imagine the following. You’re at the airport with your bags packed, and you can't wait to get your holiday started. However, you're waiting at the gate to check-in, and you suddenly see a message pop up that says your flight is delayed.  

Not the best way to start your vacation, and unfortunately, it's a rather common scenario. The reasons for these delays aren't always clear, but often flight regulations put in place to manage air traffic flow are the culprit. So how can we make it a less common occurrence?

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Predicting the unpredictable

EUROCONTROL, the pan-European organisation dedicated to supporting aviation, wanted to get ahead of these delays. Their goal was to predict flight regulations at Europe’s 100 busiest airports. Raccoons took on this challenge and developed a sophisticated AI-powered solution capable of forecasting regulations caused by a range of factors.

Here’s how we did it:

1. We started with a proof-of-concept, focusing on predicting weather-related regulations at a single airport.

2. Gradually, we integrated more data sources, including historical weather data, flight schedules, and notifications of potential disruptions like nearby construction.

3. Once the model proved successful, we expanded it to encompass the top 100 European airports, taking into account the unique characteristics of each location.

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Making sense of the data

Getting the predictions was one part of the puzzle, but we also needed to make them easy to understand. That's why Raccoons also made a user-friendly Power BI dashboard that visualises potential regulations, making it easy to see where and when problems might pop up. This helps EUROCONTROL work more efficiently with their partners to keep flights running smoothly and reduce those frustrating delays.

This project is a prime example of how Raccoons uses a human-in-the-loop approach to AI. By combining the power of machine learning with human expertise, we can create solutions that make a real difference in the world. Here's what Iacopo Prissinotti, Director Network Management at EUROCONTROL, had to say about their solution:

“State-of-the-art applications such as this enable us to check and coordinate immediately with all actors to agree on the most appropriate measures that will minimise delay.”

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