Many carriers now send flight status updates to passengers' mobile devices via text or voice messages — ideally (though not perfectly) reporting information about cancellations and delays.
Not only can 4G be used to send flight data to and from the cloud, Latas could also triangulate signals from multiple towers to improve the accuracy of a drone's location from GPS.
Most airlines and some online travel agencies also offer to send flight status updates to passengers' cellphones or mobile devices; if you sign up to receive these alerts, you can find out about your connecting flight's gate number and updated departure time as soon as your first flight taxis to the gate.
Eastern time on Thursday, the airlines had to send flight plans by fax, and the controllers typed them into their computers, sort of a hunt-and-peck exercise that was so cumbersome that many planes were delayed more than an hour.
Russia and France have also challenged the sanctions by sending flights to Baghdad without United Nations authorization.
Australia and New Zealand are sending flights to survey the damage and provide relief, while Britain has promised £2m ($3m) to Vanuatu, a fellow member of the Commonwealth.
Delta Air Lines said it was no longer sending flights through Ukrainian airspace after the crash of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
The deal was struck just as more nations prepared to send flights to Baghdad in contravention of a longstanding air embargo on Iraq.
He added that the mission was the latest in a catalogue of setbacks for the Foreign Office, including the failure to send flights to Libya to evacuate Britons at any earlier stage.
There has been a steady erosion of the isolation of Iraq, as neighboring countries and other nations began to increase trade and send flights to Baghdad's newly reopened airport.
