Air

In April, United Airlines hit a huge pocket of public relations turbulence after a passenger was forcibly removed from one of its partners' airplanes. The incident raised questions about blindly following procedures, passenger rights, and United's executive leadership. From chatbots to robotic bellhops, here are seven ways AI could impact business travel in the months, and years, ahead. On April 9, 2017, a paying passenger was dragged off United Express Flight 3411, from Chicago to Louisville, Ky. Four seats on the full flight were needed to accommodate airline crew members, as USA Today and others reported.

The black box in Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning programs1 has taken on the opposite meaning. These Machine Learning systems typically process data in two explicit areas as described by Rayid Ghani, Director of the Data Science for Social Good Fellowship, who indicated that4: "the power of data science is typically harnessed in a spectrum with the following two extremes: However, it has been well documented5 that the design and build of these Machine Learning black boxes can lead to bias, unfairness, and discrimination through programmer and data choices. Governance of the systems should incorporate systematic ways to formalize hidden assumptions (inside a black box) and ensure accountability, auditability, and transparency of internal Machine Learning system workings. Furthermore, a greater emphasis on introducing stricter checks on the selection and robustness of open source Machine Learning algorithms and training data should be uppermost in developers and management's mind.

"This is a huge cost for the industry," says Jim Peters, SITA's chief technology officer. That includes machine learning to analyze pricing data and suggest the best times to book a trip to a destination, a system that alerts you when ticket prices drop, and a "conversational chatbot" that understands written queries and generates relevant results. Another site, Hipmunk, also has a well-known conversational chatbot capable of understanding queries and offering relevant search results. Not only does it offer a more accurate price prediction, says Giorgos Zacharia, the chief technology officer for Kayak, "artificial intelligence also allows us to combine flights from different carriers for more savings for our users."

Amazon has registered a patent to do this. Amazon has, after all, also registered a patent for huge flying drone warehouses, like blimps that spew miniature versions of themselves out into the world below, a design built to deliver packages so quickly that customers will barely have ordered the thing before it shows up at their door. Doing this requires lots of drones and lots of packages. All those packages must be stored somewhere, and if drones are the future of delivery, those storage centers must cater to them.

Some have suggested that automation can relieve crews from having to deal with routine tasks to ease their workday, and thanks to the data generation and advanced computational capabilities of the newest generation of aircraft, more options for task automation are emerging. Some have suggested that automation can relieve crews from having to deal with routine tasks to ease their workday, and thanks to the data generation and advanced computational capabilities of the newest generation of aircraft, more options for task automation are emerging. Before making decisions on task automation, determine which phases of flight present higher risks for fatigue. A big part of prevention is developing realistic and resilient crew schedules that incorporate the latest in fatigue science and accurately reflect the challenging operational environment.

The Los Angeles Fire Department could soon seek federal permission to fly drones, a tool that officials say could help them track down missing hikers, gauge the risks in burning buildings and search confined spaces. A Los Angeles City Council committee voted Tuesday to allow the department to start seeking Federal Aviation Administration authorization to use "unmanned aerial systems," despite objections from groups concerned about privacy rights. Fire officials say no drones will be launched, however, until the Board of Fire Commissioners and the City Council approve a policy outlining how they can be used. At the Tuesday meeting, Fire Department officials added that they could lose federal authorization if they used drones for unapproved purposes.

The European Commission wants to make it easier for lightweight drones to fly autonomously in European airspace -- with logistics, inspection services and agricultural businesses set to benefit. Simpler regulations will be welcomed by multinational businesses such as gas giant Engie, which is developing drones for tasks such as pipeline or building inspection or for cleaning the insulators on high-voltage overhead power lines. Other businesses, including some exhibiting at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget this week, will see common rules as a way to simplify the development of drones and related services. While the drone air traffic control rules won't have much effect on its tethered drone, which is intended for inspecting the interiors of large industrial buildings, they could make life simpler for another drone it is developing to clean the insulators on overhead power lines.

Dubai, also called the Future City, will start testing aerial taxi transportation later this year. The agency revealed plans Monday to start trials of its Autonomous Aerial Taxis during this year's fourth quarter. When the project was first announced, the agency was working with drone company EHang for single-passenger autonomous flying vehicles. Transportation officials are working with the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority to develop laws, operational guidelines and to define specifications and standards applicable to operators before the "commercial and official operation of the autonomous air vehicles," Tayer said.

'I think in the next decade or two you're going to see them become a reality,' Boeing Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg told CNBC at the Paris Air Show. 'I think in the next decade or two you're going to see them become a reality,' Boeing Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg told CNBC at the Paris Air Show. The Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) low-boom flight demonstrator aims to produce a much lower'boom' than other supersonic aircraft, and NASA is hoping to see the first flight tests take place in 2021, according to Aviation Week. NASA is backing plans to return to supersonic flight, with its Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) low-boom flight demonstrator aims to produce a much lower'boom' than other supersonic aircraft, and NASA is hoping to see the first flight tests take place in 2021 The XS-1 program envisions a fully reusable unmanned vehicle, roughly the size of a business jet, which would take off vertically like a rocket and fly to hypersonic speeds.

The "Future City" is about to add another space-age service you won't find anywhere else in the world: autonomous passenger drones. Dubai's much-hyped autonomous aerial taxi (AAT) service, which made waves back in February when it was announced as part of its World Government Summit, is finally, officially on track. The autonomous drone taxis will fly passengers on predetermined routes throughout the city, serving as more of a sky shuttle service than a true go-anywhere taxi. The first version of the air taxi project used the Ehang 184, a 500-pound, single-seat passenger drone.