The impact of hubbing concentration on flight delays within airline networks: An empirical analysis of the US domestic market

This paper explores the relationship between hubbing activities and flight delays in the United States from an airline-specific network perspective. Airline hubbing is measured with the Hubbing Concentration Index. We estimate the impact of hubbing behavior on delays, using three measures of delay, two based on delay against schedule, and the third based on buffer-corrected excess travel times. A significant (and positive) influence of hubbing concentration can only be found for the latter delay indicator. We conclude that airlines use buffer times to mitigate passenger-perceived delays against schedule that would, without buffers, arise from more complex network operations.     

An analysis of Brazilian flight delays based on frequent patterns

In this paper we applied data indexing techniques combined with association rules to unveil hidden patterns of flight delays. Considering Brazilian flight data and guided by six research questions related to causes, moments, differences, and relationships between airports and airlines, we evaluated and quantified all attributes that may lead to delays, showing not only the main patterns, but also their chances of occurrence in the entire network, in each airport and airline. We observed that Brazilian flight system has difficulties to recover from previous delays and when operating under adverse meteorological conditions, delays occurrences may increase up to 216%.     

Integrated airline productivity performance evaluation with CO2 emissions and flight delays

This paper evaluates the airline productivity change by applying a modified global Malmquist productivity index (GMPI) model, incorporating both CO₂ emissions and flight delays. Statistical inference is also performed on the GMPI results using the bootstrapping method. Empirical research was conducted on 15 international airlines during 2011-2017. The obtained results showed that the productivity of all airlines had been fluctuating and experienced a slight increase over 2011–2017. Most of these 15 airlines made more progress in managing punctuality than CO₂ emissions. High punctuality policy may not be the best choice for all airlines when considering financial constraints, while airlines in more liberalized aviation markets are more likely to improve productivity by reducing flight delays. Efficiency change and technological change were the major driving factors for the growth of airline productivity. European and US airlines benefitted more from superior technology, while most Asian and Oceanian airlines still benefitted from the advantage of efficiency. Based on the findings, specific management advice was given.     

Efficiency measurement of Chinese airports with flight delays by directional distance function

This paper employs directional distance function to evaluate the technical efficiency of twenty major Chinese airports from 2006 to 2009 within a joint production framework of desirable and undesirable output (i.e. flight delays). The results indicate that the overall average efficiencies of Chinese airports increased over the period of time. The international hub airports are found to operate at higher efficiency level, which indicates that these airports run well in producing more desirable outputs and controlling flight delays. Although the average efficiency score of listed airports is higher than non-listed ones, the difference between the two group is statistically insignificant. A comparison between the results without and with flight delays show that several airports experienced significant changes in their efficiency scores after considering undesirable output.     

The effect of flight distance on fuel mileage and CO2 per passenger kilometer

In this study, the effect of distance on fuel mileage (fuel burn per nautical mile) and CO₂ intensity, based on a large amount of actual flight data, is discussed for narrow-body commercial aircraft performing domestic flights for flight distances of between ～200 and ～800 NM, in Turkey. For twenty-nine domestic routes, the average CO₂ intensity is calculated to be 88 gr/pa-km, with an 80% load factor, ranging from between 112 gr/pa-km (207 gr/pa-NM) for the shortest route and 78 gr/pa-km (145 gr/pa-NM) for the longest route. An overall runway-to-runway analysis reveals that the average flight fuel consumption increases by 5.1 kg for each additional nautical mile. The discussion is extended to cover wind effect, through westbound and eastbound flights, on fuel consumption. The average fuel mileage of the eastbound flights, above 30 kft, is found to be 11.2% lower than those for the westbound flights. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out to reveal the effects of three main flight performance parameters, namely, cruise altitude, cruise speed and aircraft mass on the cruise CO₂ intensity.     

Model of passenger behavior choice under flight delay based on dynamic reference point

Flight delay has always been a concern of scholars, but in previous studies, there has been little discussion of passenger behavior choice after flight delay. The paper based on the prospect theory, taking the Beijing-Shanghai route as an example, constructs the passenger behavior choice model under flight delay, and in order to explore the decision-making behavior of passengers with different attributes under different delay scenarios. The results show that the reference point of passengers' behavioral decision-making is dynamic due to different delay scenarios and passengers' attributes. For the same reason, passengers have different behavioral choices when encountering flight delay. Through empirical analysis, it is found that the choice of passengers based on prospect theory is in line with the actual choice of passengers. The choice model proposed in the paper can effectively describe the passenger's choice behavior.     

Mitigation of airspace congestion impact on airline networks

In recent years European airspace has become increasingly congested and airlines can now observe that en-route capacity constraints are the fastest growing source of flight delays. In 2010 this source of delay accounted for 19% of all flight delays in Europe and has been increasing with an average yearly rate of 17% from 2005 to 2010. This paper suggests and evaluates an approach to how disruption management can be combined with flight planning in order to create more proactive handling of the kind of disruptions, which are caused by congested airspace. The approach is evaluated using data from a medium size European carrier and estimates a lower bound saving of several million USD.     

Flight delay impact on airfare and flight frequency: A comprehensive assessment

This paper presents a comprehensive empirical analysis of flight delay impact on airfare and flight frequency in the US air transportation system. We model airfare and flight frequency as functions of cost and demand characteristics, competition effects, and flight delays at origin, destination, and intermediate hub airports. Estimation results confirm that airlines tend to pass delay cost onto passengers through higher fare, whereas delay has an upward effect on flight frequency. We find that proportionate airport delay reduction across the system can result in annual fare reduction in the order of billion dollars.     

Determinants of flight delays at East Asian airports from an airport,route and network perspective

Previous studies on determinants of flight delays have been limited to the attributes of departure and arrival airports and routes and experiences in North America and Europe. This research extends the existing discussions by considering a network perspective to explore East Asian airports. A total of 4611 routes among 318 airports in the second half of 2017 are analyzed using panel data regressions. Results show that the attributes of airports and routes linked with the departure and arrival airports of a flight are the essential determinants of flight delays in East Asia. However, the congestion internalization and hubness effect of departure and arrival airports suggested in previous research are not observed in this region. The associations of slot control levels and route attributes with delays are varying between airports inside and outside China and domestic and international routes. This research supplements a new perspective to understand the determinants of flight delays in existing literature and provides a rarely observed knowledge to encourage East Asian airport operators and carriers developing management strategies for minimizing flight delays.     

Analysis of airport weather impact on on-time performance of arrival flights for the Brazilian domestic air transportation system

Air traffic operations are significantly impacted by weather conditions. These external factors may impose operational constraints and generate demand-capacity imbalances, leading to reduced on-time performance, additional airline costs and inconveniences to passengers. Efficient management of such disruptions requires an understanding of the main causes of flight delays towards increasing their predictability. In this study, we investigate the impacts of airport surface weather conditions on the likelihood of flight delays for the Brazilian domestic air transportation system. We use historical flight schedule, on-time performance and weather data and estimate a logit model to analyze how different meteorological variables at the airport of destination affect the probability of a delayed arrival. We obtain empirical evidence for the impacts of low ceiling and visibility conditions, precipitation and wind gusts on the likelihood of arrival delays for the set of Brazilian airports analyzed.     

The impact of carbon emission fees on passenger demand and air fares: A game theoretic approach

The implementation of an environmental market-based measure on U.S. aviation industry is studied. Under this policy, each airline pays a carbon fee for the carbon dioxide emissions it generates. The impact on ticket prices and corresponding market shares is investigated via the joint estimation of an air travel demand model and an airlines' behavior model. In the demand model, aggregate air traffic data is used to determine the marginal effects of flight attributes that are specific to itinerary, airline and airport on market share. The airline's behavior model incorporates the carbon fee in the airline marginal cost. After the implementation of the carbon policy, the increased cost forces airlines to adjust ticket prices in order to maximize profits. The results obtained by the proposed model indicate a moderate price increase which strongly depends on the per tonne carbon price. Air travel demand falls from 2.4% to 21% depending on the carbon price level.     

Effect of airline choice and temporality on flight delays

The civil aviation industry is critical to the economic development of any nation. Being a key infrastructure service, the performance of the civil aviation industry spills over to other segments of the economy. We investigate service failure among US airlines, using departure delay, and model its likelihood using mixed-logit regression. We characterize arrival performance for delayed departures using a service recovery/double deviation framework. We model the likelihood of different arrival possibilities using multinomial logistic regression. We use the chosen airline, temporality, and flight duration as predictors. Our key results include: (i) Afternoon/evening flights, and longer duration flights are more likely to depart late; (ii) Delta Airlines is most likely to depart on time; (iii) Southwest Airlines is best in recovering from delayed departures; (iv) United Airlines is most likely to aggravate delays.     

The effects of high-performance work practices and job embeddedness on flight attendants' performance outcomes

This paper proposes and tests a conceptual model that investigates job embeddedness (JE) as a mediator of the effects of high-performance work practices (HPWPs), as manifested by selective staffing, job security, training, empowerment, rewards, teamwork, and career opportunities, on creative performance (CP) and extra-role customer service (ERCS). Data obtained from flight attendants with a time lag of two weeks in Iran were used to test the aforementioned relationships through structural equation modeling. The results suggest that JE functions as a full mediator of the joint effects of HPWPs on performance outcomes. Specifically, HPWPs jointly enhance JE. JE in turn leads to elevated levels of CP and ERCS. Implications of the results are discussed and future research directions are offered.     

An investigation of fatigue issues on different flight operations

The influence of various kinds of flight operations on pilot fatigue remains a chronic problem which has a bearing on flight safety. In this study we sampled flight crews from six airlines in Taiwan, asking them to report on their perceptions of both physical and mental fatigue, before and after flight duty. The data were then analyzed with paired t-test and ANOVA. Our research results confirm findings obtained in other studies, namely, that perceived fatigue levels increase after flight duty, with that of oceanic crews being greater than that of crews serving either regional or short-haul operations. A majority of the pilots surveyed reported feeling fatigued or even nodding-off during long-distance flights, and consequently were in favor of a program of scheduled cockpit napping. While these findings are preliminary, they offer valuable information to aviation regulators and airlines regarding the assigning of consecutively scheduled flights to the same aircrews.     

The implications of environmental costs on air passenger demand for different airline business models

Various environmental measures, including both regulations and fiscal instruments, have been used at airports globally to reduce the impacts of aircraft noise as well as aircraft engine emissions. Internationally, it is recognized that the costs of environmental and social externalities of air transport must be internalized and paid for by the aviation industry and its users. The use of noise related charges or taxes, which theoretically should be based on their respective social costs, has been proved to be effective at some European airports. This research aims to investigate the impacts of environmental costs, through environmental charges, on air passenger demand for different airline business models. The paper presents the mathematical models measuring the social costs of aircraft noise and engine emissions as a basis for setting up environmental charges. Six intra-European short-haul routes in two city pairs, namely London–Amsterdam and London–Paris, are selected for the empirical analysis. The environmental charges are then hypothetically applied to airlines with two different business models, full service carriers (British Airways and Air France-KLM) and low cost airlines (EasyJet). The results show that the potential percentages of demand reduction for both leisure and business passengers would be higher for Easyjet's markets, although with less environmental cost per passenger.     

The effect of de-hubbing on airfares

This paper studies the price effect of de-hubbing, which occurs when an airline ceases hub operations at an airport. We develop a simple theoretical model to study the impact of de-hubbing on prices and quantities of direct flights at the hub airport. Using an event study of seven cases of de-hubbing between 1993 and 2009, we analyze how average airfares change following de-hubbing. Consistent with the theoretical implications, the empirical results suggest that airfares decrease when there is a low-cost carrier presence at the de-hubbed airport, whereas airfares increase when the de-hubbed airport is not serviced by a low-cost carrier.     

The effects of global alliances on international flight frequencies: Some evidence from Italy

We collect half-yearly data on nonstop flight frequencies offered by carriers on routes originating from Italian regions to European countries in the period 1998–2010. We find that, as the share of flights belonging to global alliances increases, the number of flights offered by airlines simultaneously expands, especially in the case of full-service carriers. Moreover, there is also evidence that the number of global alliances has a positive impact on flight supply.     

Transition process activities and team efficacy of flight attendants

The research goals of this study were to investigate how transition process activities among flight attendants affect team efficacy. We distributed a total of 600 questionnaires to flight teams in an airline company, which yielded a usable response of 275 fully completed questionnaires in the end. The research model and the hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling approach.Our findings suggest that transition team activities have emerged as an important asset in team efficacy; moreover, increasing flight attendants' job satisfaction should be a priority for airline companies. Second, communication between flight attendants requires not just the delivery of information but also receipt and comprehension of the knowledge interchange, third, the development of shared leadership should be concerned in flight teams.     

Investigating the impact of demand amplification on freight transport

Despite freight transport operations being influenced by supply chain dynamics, there has been only a very limited investigation into the impact of demand amplification on this function, with almost no analytical research. This paper aims, through spreadsheet simulation of a generic production control system, to quantify the impact of demand amplification on transport performance. Performance measures evaluated include both transport cost and efficiency. The results in general find a negative relationship between transport performance and demand amplification. It is also found that the ratio of vehicle capacity to average demand affects these results.     

How to create genuine happiness for flight attendants: Effects of internal marketing and work-family interface

Drawing on the combination of affective event theory and the job demands–resources model, this paper advances research on the link between organization-related predictors and individual-related outcomes through a psychological mechanism in the aviation industry. Specifically, this study makes a novel contribution as the first to quantitatively explore how internal marketing helps build happiness by changing flight attendants' work-family interface. Using a sample of 142 flight attendants working in airline companies based in Asian countries, our results indicate that communication, welfare systems, training, and management support are directly associated with happiness and indirectly associated with happiness via work-family facilitation. Communication, welfare systems, and management support can shape cabin crews' happiness via decreased work-family conflict. However, compensation is not found to influence flight attendants’ happiness. Practical implications and potential future research avenues also are discussed.