How American Airlines Is Aiming to Limit Taxiing — or Any Delay — After Landing

Arriving ahead of schedule may come as a pleasant surprise for flyers, but the joy quickly fizzles out when the gate is occupied by another aircraft.

Thankfully, American Airlines’ Smart Gating technology tool addresses this common issue at busy airports by using real-time data to assign planes that have just touched down to the nearest available gate. First rolled out at Dallas-Fort Worth in 2021, the tool has also been implemented at a few more hubs: Charlotte, Chicago, Miami, and Washington-Reagan, American shared with T+L.

“We’re always looking for ways to drive operational improvement,” Anne Moroni, American’s vice president of operations planning and performance, said in a statement. “We make gating decisions thousands of times a day. Saving precious time on the ground ensures more customers make their connections and we use our resources efficiently.”

The airline has reported that the tool has helped minimize taxi times by one to two minutes per flight at Charlotte and Dallas-Fort Worth, which rank as the top 10 busiest airports in the U.S. according to the FAA. The use of Smart Gating technology has also helped reduce aircraft congestion, which is crucial at airports like Washington-Reagan where there’s limited ramp space. 

Over the past week, American reported a “record-setting Thanksgiving operation” with 55 cancellations out of more than 59,000 scheduled flights. Even with the snowstorm impacting the Midwest over the holiday weekend, the airline reported zero cancellations out of its Chicago-O’Hare hub. 

In total, the use of Smart Gating technology has helped American reduce taxi times across its network by 17 hours each day and save roughly 1.4 million gallons of jet fuel every year. 

“Smart Gating has been a game changer at our large hubs,” said Sumit Batra, American’s managing director of operations performance and analytics. “This technology is another example of American’s non-stop focus on innovation.”