At Aerospace Tech Week, Rob Galbraith, Director of Flight Operations at United Airlines reflected on the airline’s flight operations progress looking at the technology driving change, opportunities for AI/ML integration, and the greatest challenges to seamless real-world operations.
Galbraith picked out the electronic flight bag (EFB) as one of the most impactful areas of progress due to its more flexible regulatory status. This offers flexibility for airlines and developers to innovate and respond to changing demands.
Acknowledging not every aspect of the industry is keeping pace with desired progress, Galbraith described the greatest challenge to achieving seamless flight ops as:
“Working with our training teams to actually train how we expect the pilot to operate. Right now we do a great job with simulators training how we would like to actually fly the airplane, but not operate the airplane. The next step is that we can use it in the simulator and mirror exactly how the crew would use it on the line flying a real flight. And currently that’s not possible in a lot of cases.”
AI and ML also sit at the heart of the industry’s optimisation strategy. Galbraith shared how the technology is being leveraged to help flight crews make better real-time decisions as well as streamline backend processes like updating manuals and ensuring compliance across global regulations.
To learn more watch the full interview below. To hear live from industry experts join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026 in April!
Questions asked include:
- Which technology do you believe is currently driving the most progress in flight ops?
- Are there any emerging technologies that, although they are still in their infancy, you expect will have a major impact in the future?
- How is United integrating AI & ML into flight ops systems and to what end? Can you share any specific examples?
- What do you understand as the greatest challenge to achieving seamless flight ops, and what’s United’s strategy for overcoming this?
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