As the summer travel season approaches, British airline EasyJet is gearing up to handle soaring demand with the launch of its cutting-edge Integrated Control Center (ICC). This state-of-the-art facility, located near London's Luton airport, is tasked with overseeing the airline's approximately 2,000 mostly European flights per day, and it's leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations.

The ICC serves as the nerve center for EasyJet's operations, handling everything from urgent flight changes to real-time monitoring of passenger aircraft health. Technicians can analyze engine performance in real time and even detect if a toilet needs fixing, ensuring a seamless travel experience for passengers.

With the aviation sector recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, which grounded planes and caused massive job losses, EasyJet has been on a significant recruitment drive. The number of staff overseeing control center operations has more than doubled in two years to 266 people working around the clock, their eyes glued to large curved screens.

"It's going to be our busiest summer since COVID," said Gill Baudot, EasyJet's director of network control. "Over the next few months, we'll be flying... 300,000 passengers a day."

To handle the anticipated surge in demand, EasyJet is turning to AI technology, deploying a tool akin to ChatGPT to aid in urgent flight changes. This AI assistant helps staff decide on situations such as how best to reroute aircraft and reassign crew, providing real-time support in a dynamic environment.

"We've... been investing heavily in technology, automation, and artificial intelligence," Baudot said. "Right now, we think the human being will still make the (final) decision."

EasyJet manages a fleet of more than 340 passenger planes, with 14 backup aircraft strategically positioned across Europe to ensure operational flexibility.

The airline's chief executive, Johan Lundgren, who recently announced his departure in early 2025 after seven years at the helm, has been a driving force behind EasyJet's embrace of data and technology.

"At EasyJet, we saw the potential early on for data to improve customer experience and operational efficiency, which could help us provide a better flying experience for our customers, crew, and pilots," Lundgren said. "While you can't always see it, the technology is already hard at work in the air and on the ground."

Lundgren highlighted the potential of data and AI to optimize various aspects of operations, from predicting food and drink requirements for specific routes to minimize waste, to aiding predictive maintenance decisions and ensuring the right aircraft are deployed on the right routes to match demand.

At the ICC, Mark Garrett, in charge of customer disruption at EasyJet, is closely monitoring flights. Should a flight encounter problems, notifications are sent to affected passengers' phones, with priority given to flights with a significant number of children or group trips.

"It's not always the flights with (the) least people" that get disrupted, Garrett added, underscoring the importance of making informed decisions based on a multitude of factors.

As the aviation industry continues to recover from the pandemic's impact, EasyJet's innovative AI-powered control center positions the airline at the forefront of operational efficiency and customer experience. By harnessing the power of cutting-edge technology, EasyJet aims to navigate the complexities of modern air travel, ensuring a seamless journey for its passengers while setting new standards for the industry.