As Heathrow’s controversial third runway gets the green light and Gatwick looks on track for a second one, an Israeli tech innovation could reduce the need for such costly expansions.
IntellAct is a cutting-edge AI company that helps airports maximise efficiency, cut delays and save billions of pounds. By optimising ground operations and reducing aircraft turnaround times, it could spare airports the need for new runways entirely.
Udi Segall, IntellAct founder and CEO
“The aviation industry is bleeding from a thousand cuts,” says Udi Segall, IntellAct’s founder and CEO. “Constant delays – with an average of 15.5 minutes per flight — add up to billions in costs. We saw a financial opportunity in how airlines manage their activities, and that’s where IntellAct comes in.”
IntellAct leverages big data and machine learning to provide airlines, airports and ground handling teams with real-time visibility into service performance bottlenecks and the ability to address them in a way that can yield significant operational improvements and a dramatic reduction in flight delays.
In February, the UK government backed expansion plans for a controversial third runway at Heathrow and a decision is expected any day on whether Gatwick in West Sussex can expand its operations to two simultaneously functioning runways. If given the green light, Gatwick says the additional runway will enable 50,000 departing flights a year by the end of the 2030s. While the investments in Heathrow and Gatwick are significant milestones, expansion for many airports isn’t an option – whether due to space constraints, environmental regulations or cost barriers.
“This is where optimising runway use with AI becomes critical,” says Segall. “Lost runway capacity, often caused by inaccurate or late departures or TOBT (Target Off-Block Time) reporting, can result in significant annual losses for airports.”
According to Eurocontrol, the average departure delay in 2023 was 17.8 minutes per flight, contributing to annual turnaround delay costs exceeding $60 billion. Segall explains: “Our system compares scheduled departure times against real-time TOBT estimations that are based on the progress of turnaround services. This allows us to predict delays in advance, enabling the control tower to adjust plans and optimise runway capacity. “We’re collecting enough information so we can react in real time — but even faster — by predicting events before they happen. We can even predict whether a flight will leave on time.”
Udi Segall explaining the importance of airport efficiency at the FTE Global Conference in Long Beach California
Drawing on his extensive background in aviation technology, including leading the transportation department at NICE, Segall understands the long-lasting impact of day-to-day operational inefficiencies: “We realised there’s a huge financial opportunity in improving how airlines manage their activities. Delays cost the aviation industry $62 billion annually, with each minute of delay costing approximately $110.”
Segall describes IntellAct’s vision as “like a Formula 1 pit stop — you can’t win the race if the pit stop isn’t perfect. The real value of an aircraft is when it’s in the air; the longer it’s on the ground, the more money and revenue opportunities are lost.”
IntellAct currently monitors around one million flights annually — approximately 2.5 percent of the world’s total 40 million. Founded in 2017, the company initiated a successful pilot scheme with El Al. It has since received investment from Cockpit Innovation, part of El Al, and OurCrowd, a leading global venture investing platform.
IntellAct has also joined forces with transport and aviation giant Indra and last year partnered with Miami International Airport (MIA) on a Proof of Concept – a collaboration recognised at the recent Airportech Symposium where IntellAct and MIA won the Airport Technology Innovator Award for Advancing Airport Artificial Intelligence Applications. Segall says he has been in touch with UK airports about rolling out the company’s technology. “We want airports worldwide to have this service and be willing to pay for it,” he says. “And with the population ageing, more passengers require assistance — up from one percent to 10 percent today. Our AI can help plan for these needs and avoid departure delays caused by waiting for wheelchairs or other services.”
Could IntellAct actually replace the need for additional runways? “Is there a way to get more without investment in further infrastructure? Absolutely,” says Segall. “We can do better with what we have. It’s not about more planes or more terminals. It’s about breaking the barriers to efficiency, starting with the bottlenecks we already have. AI is uniquely suited to discovering inefficiencies so we can streamline future turnaround processes and help airports get the most out of their best asset: their runway.”
He remains optimistic despite the challenges airports face, from war-related disruptions to an evolving regulatory landscape. “There’s a silver lining — airports are getting better at understanding what AI can do,” he says. “The future lies in universal coverage, where airports around the world adopt these solutions to enhance efficiency and the passenger experience.”
