Alaska Airlines has partnered with AI startup Air Space Intelligence to revolutionize flight planning and reduce fuel consumption through artificial intelligence. The collaboration, which began three years ago and was renewed in August, has resulted in the Flyways AI Platform now influencing half of all flight plans reviewed by Alaska Airlines’ dispatchers.
The fundamental challenge Alaska Airlines faced was the complexity of coordinating airline flights in real-time. While routes are planned months in advance, one out of every five flights in the US is delayed by at least 15 minutes. According to Pasha Saleh, head of corporate development at Alaska Airlines, the core issue is that “when a human being sits down to plan a flight, they only have information about their one flight.”
The partnership originated in 2018 when Saleh met Phillip Buckendorf, CEO of Air Space Intelligence, who initially wanted to use AI for routing self-driving cars. After visiting Alaska Airlines’ operations center and seeing outdated technology, Buckendorf pivoted his company’s focus to airlines. Air Space Intelligence spent approximately 1.5 years developing the first version of Flyways, with ASI staff shadowing dispatchers to understand their workflow.
Flyways trains its AI algorithm on comprehensive historical flight data, including scheduled and actual departure/arrival times, routes, restricted military airspace, wind speeds at cruising altitude, and even major events like the Super Bowl that affect airspace. The system connects to multiple data sources through application programming interfaces (APIs) to automatically ingest real-time information.
Crucially, Flyways operates as an assistant rather than an automated system—dispatchers must approve all AI-suggested routes before implementation. While dispatchers accept only 23% of Flyways’ recommendations, those accepted routes helped reduce Alaska Airlines’ fuel consumption by more than 1.2 million gallons in 2023. This reduction supports Alaska’s goal of becoming the most fuel-efficient airline by 2025. The airline also achieved No. 2 ranking for on-time performance among US airlines in 2023.
Meanwhile, Air Space Intelligence has grown from a handful of engineers to 110 employees across offices in Boston, Denver, Poland, and Washington, DC, secured contracts with the US Air Force, and received $34 million in Series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz in December.
Key Quotes
The fundamental problem is that when a human being sits down to plan a flight, they only have information about their one flight.
Pasha Saleh, head of corporate development at Alaska Airlines, explained the core limitation of traditional flight planning that AI helps overcome by considering multiple variables and flights simultaneously.
Airplanes are expensive assets, and you only make money when they’re flying.
Saleh emphasized the financial imperative driving Alaska Airlines’ AI adoption, as delays and inefficient routing directly impact profitability by keeping costly aircraft grounded.
He looked at those screens expecting to see something out of ‘Star Trek.’ Instead, he saw something one generation removed from IBM DOS.
Saleh described Air Space Intelligence CEO Phillip Buckendorf’s reaction to Alaska Airlines’ outdated operations center technology, which prompted Buckendorf to pivot his company from self-driving cars to airline optimization.
Airlines are very unionized environments, so we wanted to make sure this wasn’t seen as a threat to dispatchers.
Saleh highlighted Alaska Airlines’ deliberate strategy to position AI as an assistant tool rather than a replacement, addressing workforce concerns that often derail technology adoption in traditional industries.
Our Take
Alaska Airlines’ AI implementation exemplifies mature enterprise AI adoption—focusing on augmentation rather than automation, involving stakeholders early, and measuring concrete outcomes. The 23% acceptance rate is particularly instructive: it shows that AI doesn’t need universal adoption to deliver value, and that human expertise remains critical for validating algorithmic recommendations in high-stakes environments.
The partnership’s success challenges the narrative that AI primarily threatens jobs. Instead, it demonstrates how AI can enhance worker capabilities while addressing legitimate union concerns through transparent collaboration. The measurable environmental impact—over 1.2 million gallons of fuel saved—also positions AI as a critical tool for corporate sustainability goals, an increasingly important consideration for investors and regulators.
As Air Space Intelligence expands to military contracts and raises significant venture funding, this case study signals that specialized, industry-specific AI applications may offer more immediate value than general-purpose AI systems, particularly in regulated sectors where safety and reliability are paramount.
Why This Matters
This case study demonstrates practical AI implementation in a highly regulated, safety-critical industry where human oversight remains paramount. Alaska Airlines’ approach shows how AI can augment rather than replace human expertise, addressing union concerns while delivering measurable environmental and operational benefits. The 1.2 million gallon fuel reduction translates to significant cost savings and carbon emission reductions, proving AI’s value in sustainability initiatives.
The partnership model between Alaska Airlines and Air Space Intelligence offers a blueprint for AI adoption in traditional industries. By involving dispatchers from the beginning and positioning AI as an assistant tool, the airline avoided workforce resistance and gained valuable user feedback. The 23% acceptance rate of AI recommendations, while seemingly modest, still delivers substantial impact—highlighting that AI doesn’t need to be perfect to be valuable.
This story also reflects growing investor confidence in specialized AI applications, as evidenced by Andreessen Horowitz’s $34 million investment. As airlines face pressure to reduce emissions and improve efficiency, AI-powered optimization tools like Flyways represent a scalable solution that could transform aviation operations industry-wide, potentially saving billions in fuel costs while reducing environmental impact.
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