Cirium Unveils New AI Assistant for OTP Analysis

‍DALLAS — Cirium, a global leader in aviation analytics, has announced the launch of OTP Improvement AI (Olivia), an AI-powered assistant designed to enhance on-time performance (OTP) analysis for airlines and airports. 

The new tool was introduced this morning during a media briefing led by Cirium’s executive team, including CEO Jeremy Bowen, Chief Marketing Officer Mike Malik, Chief Innovation Officer Kevin Hightower, and Vice President of Product Niha Shaikh.

A New Intelligence Era for OTP Insights

OTP Improvement AI (Olivia) is more than just a tool that digs into the data according to a query and spits back generic reports and charts. The tool leverages real-time data and advanced AI models to surface operational trends, identify root causes of delays, and gain competitive insights more quickly than traditional methods. 

Designed to act like “hundreds of assistants working in parallel,” the tool aims to transform how airlines and airports manage performance, scheduling, and disruptions. 

If, say, Delta Air Lines (DL) wants to understand competitor American Airlines’ (AA) behavior at New York’s JFK airport, the tool weaves enough contextualized data points, allowing DL to make better strategic decisions for its operations at that particular hub. Conversely, AA can do the same. That’s the new edge here.

“Over the past 25 years, technology has evolved dramatically, but the challenge remains: how do we make aviation data truly actionable?” said Mike Malik in his opening remarks. “Olivia is Cirium’s answer to that challenge.”

Addressing Industry Pain Points

Neha Sheik outlined the persistent hurdles that aviation teams face in improving OTP, including a lack of performance context, shallow competitive analysis, and time-consuming root cause investigations. 

Olivia aims to address these challenges by providing personalized, real-time insights that enable decision-makers to quickly identify trends and potential improvements.

“This AI assistant doesn't just analyze the data—it tells you where to look and why it matters,” Shaikh emphasized.

Smart, Fast, and Always On

Kevin Hightower demonstrated Olivia’s capabilities, showing how it can answer complex operational questions such as pinpointing the best and worst-performing routes for major airlines, all using up-to-the-minute data. 

A standout feature, called "Night Vision," proactively analyzes performance data overnight, providing fresh insights by morning.

The tool is also designed to handle personalized naming, adding a human touch to the user experience.

Journalists, Industry Feedback

Cirium's AI tool is currently in beta testing with select airlines and airports, with plans to open access to journalists in the coming weeks—fingers crossed! During the briefing, Hightower confirmed that the assistant is built with rigorous data protections and generates reliable, non-hallucinated outputs.

Participants tested the tool by querying it live, and the results were comprehensive enough to facilitate deeper research, serving up follow-up questions. Airlines and airports have been invited to begin using Olivia and to share feedback to refine the tool further.

As per its name, the tool currently focuses on OTP data, but Cirium plans to broaden its capabilities with potential future applications in fleet management and scheduling. The team also hinted at the upcoming release of Emerald Sky, a new tool for tracking aircraft emissions.

“This is just the beginning,” Malik said in his closing remarks. “We’re building AI tools that will help the entire aviation ecosystem make smarter, faster, and more sustainable decisions.”