Our BA interns did not spend their first weeks in a training room. They spent them at Cluj International Airport.
The AirportLabs team shared the full story on the company page - I wanted to add the founder’s view.
You do not learn to build aviation software from a slide deck. You learn it by standing on the apron. By watching a gate conflict resolve. By asking the operations team why a specific workflow breaks every time there is a delay cascade. The operation teaches you things the specification never will. That is why we bring interns to the airport first.
It is also why this matters more in 2026 than it did three years ago. AI job vacancies in Romania grew by 1,587% in the last year (Randstad 2026). More than 90% of Romanian graduates now believe AI skills are necessary to advance in their careers (NewTech Academy / EPALE, Mar 2026). Every company is talking about AI pipelines.
๐๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ค๐๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค.
An intern who has watched a real AODB orchestrate a disruption recovery understands something a prompt engineer without operational context does not: you cannot automate what you do not understand first. The airport teaches that faster than any course.
We are building systems that run the world’s most complex airports, and we are building them 100% in house. That requires people who were shaped in production environments, who understand the operation before they touch the code, and who choose to build something that lasts.
To the team who made this visit happen, and to the interns who asked the right questions: this is what in-house looks like from day one.