Heathrow selects AIRHART to replace its airport operational database
Contracted
Heathrow has selected AIRHART, the platform of Smarter Airports, as the new base for its core operational systems. Netcompany announced the selection on 24 February 2026 and will support implementation. Heathrow Chief Operating Officer Javier Echave is quoted backing the programme, which Netcompany describes as a multi-year agreement.
Netcompany lists three capabilities in scope. A next-generation airport operational database, or AODB, the central record of flight and resource data that other airport systems read from, will replace Heathrow's existing systems. Alongside it come Airport Collaborative Decision Making, the A-CDM process through which the airport, airlines, ground handlers and air traffic control share turnaround milestones, and an Airport Operations Plan that Netcompany calls predictive and continuously optimised.
On AI, the published material stays general. Netcompany refers to "AI-driven decision support" and Future Travel Experience, in March 2026, to "predictive AI" for orchestrating operations, but neither names the models, the data they would be trained on or where their output would reach Heathrow staff. FTE reports that Heathrow joins Copenhagen Airport and Munich Airport in adopting this kind of orchestration platform.
Migration from the current systems is the next stage. Heathrow and its suppliers have not given a go-live date or said how the migration will be sequenced, so the record stays at contracted.
What the system does
Heathrow has selected AIRHART, the platform of Smarter Airports, as the new base for its core operational systems. Netcompany announced the selection on 24 February 2026 and will support implementation. Heathrow Chief Operating Officer Javier Echave is quoted backing the programme, which Netcompany describes as a multi-year agreement.
Netcompany lists three capabilities in scope. A next-generation airport operational database, or AODB, the central record of flight and resource data that other airport systems read from, will replace Heathrow's existing systems. Alongside it come Airport Collaborative Decision Making, the A-CDM process through which the airport, airlines, ground handlers and air traffic control share turnaround milestones, and an Airport Operations Plan that Netcompany calls predictive and continuously optimised.
On AI, the published material stays general. Netcompany refers to "AI-driven decision support" and Future Travel Experience, in March 2026, to "predictive AI" for orchestrating operations, but neither names the models, the data they would be trained on or where their output would reach Heathrow staff. FTE reports that Heathrow joins Copenhagen Airport and Munich Airport in adopting this kind of orchestration platform.
Migration from the current systems is the next stage. Heathrow and its suppliers have not given a go-live date or said how the migration will be sequenced, so the record stays at contracted.
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