Aircraft carrying more premium passengers could be given landing priority over other flights in the future.
Plans to transform the way controllers manage the skies could allow air traffic controllers to prioritise specific flights at the request of airlines, including “premium services” with “high-value customers” on board.
Controllers, who manage 6,000 flights in UK airspace every day, could also allow aircraft with a large number of passengers who are connecting to other flights to leapfrog the queue of jets waiting to land or take off at a busy airport.
Such a move would radically overhaul the current ‘first come, first served’ rule, it has been claimed.
As more advanced technology becomes available to air traffic controllers, airlines will be able to designate specific flights within their own fleets to jump the queues.
Richard Deakin, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), said the introduction of remote technology, sensors and infrared cameras would increase the amount of data air controllers received from flights, the Sunday Times reported.
This would in turn allow controllers to prioritise flights at the request of airlines.
Deakin said: “It might tell the controller how many passengers need to make a connecting flight.
“The controller can then make more informed decisions, perhaps giving it extra priority to make sure the passengers definitely make their connection.
“And the commercial applications become obvious – tiered or premium services, giving priority to frequent flyers, loyal customers and high-value customers.”
The suggestion of such radical changes comes only a month after hundreds of flights to and from London were disrupted by a technical failure at England’s main air traffic control centre.