What counts as IROPS
There is no single threshold. Airlines generally treat as irregular operations:
- Long delays that break aircraft or crew rotations;
- Diversions to another airport;
- Cancellations, planned or on the day;
- Network-wide disruption, such as storms, airport closures or air traffic control restrictions.
Why disruptions spread
An aircraft flies several sectors a day, and its crew works a planned sequence of flights. A delay on the first flight can carry through every later flight that aircraft and crew operate. These knock-on delays are called reactionary delays, and IATA delay codes record them separately from the original cause.
What airlines measure during IROPS
- Flights delayed, diverted and cancelled, by cause
- Passengers affected, misconnected and rebooked
- Aircraft and crew out of position
- Recovery time: how long until the schedule is back on plan
- Disruption cost: compensation, hotels, meals, crew and aircraft costs
IROPS in Wireum Insights
Wireum Insights includes an irregular operations view — delays, diversions, cancellations and recovery sequencing — next to the live fleet, on-time performance and AOG, so the operations centre sees disruption and its impact in one place.