RIMINI, Italy—Artificial intelligence (AI) is helping airlines process network planning decisions faster, but route strategy still depends heavily on human instinct and market experience.
That’s according to network planners from Wizz Air, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, airBaltic and Spanish regional carrier Binter speaking during a panel discussion at Routes Europe 2026 in Rimini, Italy.
Samuel Ferrera, Wizz Air network officer west, said AI and data analytics have become increasingly important as airlines face more challenging operating environments affected by geopolitical disruptions.
“We’ve been forced to redeploy capacity so quickly that we needed to understand where passengers affected by those disruptions were actually traveling,” Ferrera said, referring to network adjustments following the war in Ukraine and instability in the Middle East. “AI and data have been instrumental.”
Ferrera said AI could eventually play a larger role not only in route planning but also in optimizing aircraft utilization and schedule efficiency, particularly for ULCCs where maximizing asset productivity is central to the business model. “AI will be key in helping airlines drive a more efficient business,” he said.
Mantas Vrubliauskas, VP of network management at airBaltic, said the Latvian airline has already begun experimenting with AI tools too—but he cautioned that the technology is still in an early stage.
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“We just dumped a lot of data into Claude, and surprisingly it came up with a very quick analysis saying, ‘This flight doesn’t look good, that flight doesn’t look good,’” Vrubliauskas said. “It would have taken us maybe half the day of figuring it out, and it only took 10 minutes for AI.”
However, he added that airlines cannot rely on AI-generated route decisions. “We haven’t made a decision to launch a route solely on AI output,” he said.
SAS Senior Manager network strategy Andreas Åkerman said AI is already becoming useful for preliminary market analysis and business development, including evaluating airport catchment areas and corporate demand before meetings with airport partners.
“I used it even to request a few meetings here [at Routes Europe],” Åkerman said. “What kind of corporates are there in that catchment area? Is it worth my while?”
But Åkerman also cautioned that AI systems still lack the reliability required for fully automated network planning. “We use it in our private lives, and we know that it’s not always reliable,” he said.
Binter Chief of network, revenue management and alliances Jonay Lobo Torres said AI is proving most valuable in helping airlines gather and interpret external market data that historically was more difficult to access.
“I think we’re struggling with the amount of data available because every year we have more information feeding into our decision-making,” Lobo Torres said. “Sometimes it becomes a flood of data.”
He said AI can help identify broader economic and demographic trends affecting demand, including GDP growth and regional development patterns that may not traditionally have been incorporated into network planning decisions.
Despite growing interest in AI, the panelists agreed that network planning still depends heavily on human intuition and experience, particularly when evaluating emerging markets or unusual geopolitical developments.
“There’s always a little bit of this gut feel,” Vrubliauskas said. “Sometimes perhaps the numbers are not really there, but you really think, ‘OK, this might actually work.’”
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