Airfield Operations Specialists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 28% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 33% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 67% of the time, stays with people.
Ensure the safe takeoff and landing of commercial and military aircraft. Duties include coordination between air-traffic control and maintenance personnel, dispatching, using airfield landing and navigational aids, implementing airfield safety procedures, monitoring and maintaining flight records, and applying knowledge of weather information.
15,190 people do this job in the US. $56,850 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on11 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet2 h
- Stays with people27 h
Airfield Operations Specialists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 11 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 2 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 27 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Plan and coordinate airfield construction (about 2 h); Initiate or conduct airport-wide coordination of snow removal on runways and taxiways (about 2 h); Coordinate with agencies to meet aircrew requirements for billeting, messing, refueling, ground transportation, and transient aircraft maintenance (about 1 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 33%
- 9%
- 58%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 18%. Today's estimate: 28%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 27 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.01% to 0.013% (released February and March 2025); 0.021% to 0.027% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.01% | 531 of 708 | 2 of 27 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.013% | 477 of 703 | 3 of 27 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.021% | 359 of 655 | 3 of 27 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.026% | 353 of 672 | 4 of 27 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.027% | 357 of 677 | 3 of 27 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 34% of this job's working time as physical work. For 12% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 7% in a purpose-built cell, 5% in a structured facility. 0.17 of 3, the 466th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 66%
- No robot shown 22%
- In a purpose-built cell 7%
- In a structured facility 5%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform and supervise airfield management activities, including mobile airfield management functions.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Plan and coordinate airfield construction.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Conduct inspections of the airport property and perimeter to maintain controlled access to airfields.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Teksbotics/UISEE Autonomous Patrol Car (APC) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Implement airfield safety procedures to ensure a safe operating environment for personnel and aircraft operation.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Teksbotics Autonomous Patrol Car (with UISEE) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect airfield conditions to ensure compliance with federal regulatory requirements.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Train operations staff.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor the arrival, parking, refueling, loading, and departure of all aircraft.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Manage wildlife on and around airport grounds.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Initiate or conduct airport-wide coordination of snow removal on runways and taxiways.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 96%Half by now | |
| Coordinate with agencies to meet aircrew requirements for billeting, messing, refueling, ground transportation, and transient aircraft maintenance.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Assist in responding to aircraft and medical emergencies.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Procure, produce, and provide information on the safe operation of aircraft, such as flight planning publications, operations publications, charts and maps, or weather information.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Air Traffic Controllers73% now, 73% by 2028
- Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors30% now, 30% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants32% now, 33% by 2028
- Commercial Pilots27% now, 27% by 2028
- Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers9% now, 9% by 2028
- Aviation Inspectors24% now, 26% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Airfield Operations Specialists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 28% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 33% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Airfield Operations Specialists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Plan and coordinate airfield construction (55% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Initiate or conduct airport-wide coordination of snow removal on runways and taxiways (96% of the task's time now); and Coordinate with agencies to meet aircrew requirements for billeting, messing, refueling, ground transportation, and transient aircraft maintenance (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Airfield Operations Specialists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Perform and supervise airfield management activities, including mobile airfield management functions; Conduct inspections of the airport property and perimeter to maintain controlled access to airfields; and Implement airfield safety procedures to ensure a safe operating environment for personnel and aircraft operation. Together such tasks are about 67% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Airfield Operations Specialists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 5%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Airfield Operations Specialists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 34% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 12% of the working time, 5% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.17 of 3. One example: Teksbotics/UISEE Autonomous Patrol Car (APC) for "conduct inspections of the airport property and perimeter to maintain controlled access to airfields". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 27 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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