Aircraft turnarounds across North America and Europe ran 11.1 minutes longer than scheduled in the first quarter of 2026. The figure comes from Assaia, the aviation analytics firm behind the annual Turnaround Report.

The report draws on more than 2 million turnaround records. Researchers examined 750,000 of those operations in detail.

What is driving the gap?

The overrun has persisted for seven consecutive quarters. That pattern points to a structural issue, not a seasonal effect.

Best and worst turnarounds begin identically. Both run on schedule through the first 12 minutes. Beyond that point, delays in servicing, baggage loading and departure preparation compound quickly, and small time losses at each station stack into something far larger by the time the aircraft pushes back.

"Delays rarely begin with one obvious problem," said Christiaan Hen, CEO of Assaia. "Small amounts of time are lost across the turnaround and gradually add up, creating knock-on delays that can follow an aircraft throughout the day and impact the wider network."

What does this change for airlines?

Each overrun burns aircraft, crew and gate time the carrier did not budget. A late first turn pushes the second flight off its slot. Crew duty limits eventually bind. Network planners measure these minutes carefully.

Eleven minutes per turn, across dozens of daily rotations, erodes the schedule buffer that absorbs irregular operations. That buffer is what keeps a hub-and-spoke operation on time during weather or ATC disruption.

Does AI monitoring actually close the gap?

Assaia compared 125,000 AI-monitored turnarounds at eight major airports with 1.5 million operations at 20 comparable facilities. AI-monitored turnarounds averaged 7.3 minutes over schedule. Peer airports averaged 11.4 minutes. The gap shrank 36%.

The comparison is not a controlled trial. Assaia sells AI monitoring software, and the company itself notes the analysis does not prove causation. Airports that adopt such systems may already operate at a higher standard.

"AI gives teams real-time visibility of what is happening around an aircraft, helping them identify where time is being lost," Hen said.

What are the costs?

The report estimates turnaround overruns consume roughly 6% of available airport stand capacity. Reclaiming that capacity at a single major hub would cost about $600 million in gates, taxiways and supporting infrastructure, Assaia calculates.

Eliminating the average overrun could unlock up to $44 billion in annual industry savings. Assaia bases that estimate on 40 million annual flights and an assumed $100-per-minute delay cost. The company labels the figure a theoretical opportunity rather than a savings forecast.

The $100-per-minute assumption invites skepticism. Academic delay-cost studies span $40 to several hundred dollars per minute, depending on stage length, aircraft class and passenger mix.

What is Assaia not disclosing?

The report does not break down performance by airline, by region, or by turnaround type. It does not name the eight AI-monitored airports or the twenty peer facilities. Without those details, the 36% gap cannot be independently verified.

Selection methodology is not disclosed either. An AI deployment at a well-resourced flagship hub may not generalize to a congested secondary airport.

What comes next?

Assaia will release quarterly turnaround updates through the rest of 2026. Major hubs face runway, gate and apron constraints that capital projects cannot relieve quickly.

Marginal gains in ground operations may now matter more than new concrete — provided the underlying claims survive outside scrutiny.