Taxi Times in Jeppesen Smart Airport Maps: Mitigate delays, save fuel
Taxi operations are notoriously unpredictable. But the Smart Airport Maps Taxi Times feature is designed to take some of the guesswork out of one of the most frustrating parts of any flight.
You’ve been there—we’ve all been there. Sitting on the ramp, waiting for clearance, watching the clock tick as your estimated off-block time drifts further and further away. Or maybe it’s the flip side—you’re behind schedule, racing to your gate at the end of a flight, only to discover that final kilometer (or kilometer and a half) will take much longer than expected.
Sure, flying is our bread and butter—but taxiing? That’s where the clock and costs can really stack up. That’s where this feature transforms all that unpredictability into something manageable, combining real-time updates with historical data to help you optimize your ground game. Here’s why it’s fast becoming a must-have.
What is the Taxi Times feature?
Exactly what it sounds like—it tracks and provides live taxi-related data, showing how long it’s taken other aircraft to taxi to or from your assigned runway and parking stand, depending on current traffic conditions, weather and airport activity.
But it doesn’t stop there. The tool also includes a deep archive of historical taxi time data, giving you an edge when planning ground ops at unfamiliar or notoriously congested airports. Whether you’re navigating a known rush-hour snarl or coasting through an unusually quiet afternoon, Taxi Times helps you plan with confidence.
Best of all, it’s fully integrated into Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro’s Smart Airport Maps—meaning all that info is right in front of you, no need to dig through other apps, information or wait for ATC to give you heads-up warnings.
Live and historical taxi times between gate G6 and Runway 24 at EHAM.
Why pilots swear by Taxi Times
Here’s the deal with taxi time—it’s not just a minor inconvenience. It has real, measurable consequences. Long taxi times burn fuel, break schedules and introduce more chaos into an already complex part of the flight. Taxi Times shifts the paradigm by keeping you proactive, not reactive—so you’re always informed and prepared.
1. Real-time situational awareness
Picture this. You’ve just pushed back, and you’re looking at a complex web of taxiways between you and your assigned departure runway. Without guidance, you’re up against a whole list of unknowns. Is there congestion ahead? How long will it take for you to slot into the queue for takeoff?
With Taxi Times, Smart Airport Maps provides information on taxi times based on the current airport situation. Think of it as having a live view of everything impacting ground flow, from aircraft movement ahead of you to unusual traffic on your path.
2. Fuel optimization
This one hits home for all of us. Sitting in a line burns fuel—it’s just a fact. But with real-time taxi insights, you can make smarter decisions around pushback timing and engine start procedures.
On the way out, if Taxi Times indicates you’re in for a long haul to the runway, you might hold off starting the second engine until you’re closer to departure. On the way in, you might optimize your single engine procedures to save those last few kilos of fuel before pulling up to the gate.
Recent taxi times to Gate H4 show 10 minutes – longer than the historical average.
3. Reducing ground delays
If you’re operating into or out of airports that are known for their perpetual hold-ups (we see you, Heathrow), this tool becomes even more valuable. Based on the current data or insights it offers from historical trends, you can build more reasonable expectations into your briefing and help manage downstream delays a lot more effectively.
Flying into JFK at peak rush? If Taxi Times shows a 25-minute taxi-in instead of the usual 10, you can adjust your briefing, inform dispatch or even request a different runway—if one’s available.
4. Better decision-making for dispatchers and crews
Taxi Times isn’t just a flight deck tool—it’s an ecosystem asset. With a Taxi Time API, dispatch has access to the same taxi time information as pilots, but can use it to make precise calls about boarding timing, fueling needs and gate selection.
The more accurate the data coming into the system, the more streamlined the decisions across the board—and that’s something we can all appreciate.
For pilots specifically, having this transparency in your cockpit ensures fewer surprises and smoother ground ops. It shapes everything, from when you begin your descent to understanding how much buffer time you really have (or, conversely, how much you’ve not).
A ground-level example
Let’s paint a scenario.
It’s a foggy winter morning. You’re taxiing out of Munich, and deicing delays have already backed up your departure slot. Now, just as you’re adjusting your timing with dispatch, ATC reassigns you to a different runway.
Without Taxi Times, you’d be scrambling—trying to do mental math, estimating the fuel impact and worrying about missed departure slots. Reduced engine taxi procedures? Forget about it—too much uncertainty.
But with it, your EFB updates in real time. You see that your new taxi route brings your estimate down from 30 minutes to just 12. That means you can taxi with a single engine for 8 of those minutes and confidently start the second in time for takeoff, fuel saved and stress avoided.
The long-term benefits
Sure, the immediate perks—fuel savings and fewer taxi delays—are great. But Taxi Times’ real strength lies in consistent, long-term gains. By regularly utilizing data-driven taxi guidance, airlines can build and adhere to more efficient schedules and improve the overall predictability of their operations.
For us on the flight deck, that means less stress, less time compensating for missing information, and more time doing what we do best—flying.
Final thoughts
Taxi Times in Smart Airport Maps is one of those tools you didn’t know you needed—until you have it. Then, you can’t imagine flying without it.
It strikes the perfect balance between real-time visibility and historical insight, adding precision, control and predictability to one of the most variable parts of any flight.
Not a fan of surprises on the ground? Neither are we. This tool strips the unknowns out of taxi ops—helping you manage fuel, timing and workload with a level of certainty we rarely had before.
