Air Travel Operations Management (ITE 504)

The nature of Air Travel Operations

Unit leader: Dr Pavlos Arvanitis

Unit tutor: Claudia Vasto

Level 5
Summary

1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
2. Flight delays and the impact on passengers, airlines and airports.................................................4
I. Impact on passengers.................................................................................................................5
II. Impact on airlines.......................................................................................................................7
III. Impact on Airports..................................................................................................................8
3. Solutions.........................................................................................................................................9
4. Conclusion....................................................................................................................................10
5. Reference List...............................................................................................................................11
 1. Introduction

Air transport ensures the three main groups of businesses – airlines,

airports and enterprises management of air traffic. Airlines operate
according to their ability the most efficient aircrafts and they are in a state
of competition, airports are providing a runway for taxiing, landing and
takeoff of aircrafts, stands for their parking, terminals for the loading and
unloading of passengers or loading or unloading of the goods and cargo.
Enterprises management of air traffic controller shall ensure that aircrafts
do not collide and that they reach their final destination on time and
safely, as it was promised by the airline providers to their passengers.

The global airline industry has rapidly grown since the 1978 Deregulation
Act and also because of the Open Skies Policy in 2001 (Lee and Yip, 2017).
The result is that the United Stated government takes care of things like
fares, routes and also new airlines coming to the market. The main task of
the 1978 Deregulation Act is to make the commercial airline industry a
“free” market. According to Lee and Yip (2017) the result is a huge
increase in the number of flights as well as the growth of passenger’s
number and also decreased fares.
 2. Flight delays and the impact on passengers, airlines and
airports

Flight delay is when landing or taking off of a particular airline is later than
a scheduled time of departure or arrival. The more we, passengers, travel
the biggest/greater the demand is. One of the biggest and the most
important factor in the air industry is the shortness of the trips and
satisfaction of customers (Rahil, Majd and Bouchoum 2017). According to
Rahil, Majd and Bouchoum (2017), passengers prefer direct flights
between their origin airport and their final destinations. Airlines provide a
lot of services. Responsibility, quality of coordination and the company's
priorities can be clearly reflected in the average delay per flight. It is also a
pointer, which is just as important as for the evaluation of the quality of
the product by travellers/passengers, as well as for the evaluation of
management capabilities. An analysis of the causes of delay within the
company helps to find the bottlenecks in their organization. The
association of European carriers (AEA) measure the average delays of
airlines and the results can be found on its website www.aea-europe.net.
According to Deshpande and Arikan (2012), there are 9 biggest causes of
flight delays – security, weather, national aviation system, late arriving
aircraft, fuelling, congestion in air traffic, maintenance issues, baggage
loading and computer glitches. When it comes to security, events like a
holiday might increase the number of travellers waiting in the security
lines and later this can be the factor causing a flight delay. As Abdelghany
et al (2004) highlighted, 75% of delays are caused by bad weather
conditions, especially storms and strong winds. The National Aviation
System (NAS) is taking care of many different factors, such as non-server
weather events, heavy air traffic or airport operations, that might impact
on flight delays. All of those mentioned factors account for almost 25% of
all airport delays or even their cancellations. The air space/ air traffic is
very overcrowded according to the latest data from Statista. In 2004, the
total number of flights (globally) was around 23, 8 million. 38, 1 million
flights is the number that was reached last year in 2018 and the forecast
for the year 2019 is 39, 8 million flights.

I. Impact on passengers

For each flight, the type of aircraft has been considered and the number of
passengers in each flight has been estimated as a function of the
maximum capacity of the aircraft (Montlaur and Delgado, 2017).

CURIA (The court of justice of the European Union) oversees the

compliance and proper application of EU law in member states since 1952.
Over the years they issued a number of rulings that have strengthened the
European integration and at the same time, confer on the citizen’s broader
rights, also many significant judgements in the area of passenger rights in
air transport (CURIA, 2017).

According to CURIA (2017), passengers of the cancelled flight which was

rerouted to their destination and if the loos of time is 3 hours or more
compared to the originally planned length of the flight, can apply for the
compensation as well as passengers, whose flight was delayed at least 3
hours. The Court stated that in the event of cancellation or long delay of
the flight, the air carriers may be exempted from the obligation to provide
compensation if they can prove, that the cancellation or delay was caused
by extraordinary circumstances which are beyond their effective control,
and would it not be possible to prevent them, even if it has taken all
reasonable measures. The extraordinary circumstances were the firstly
recorded by Montreal Convention (1999), also called the convention for
the unification of certain rules relating to international air transport.
Subsequently it was adopted by a Regulation of the European parliament
and of the council 261/2004. In the case of extraordinary circumstances,
passengers entitled from the air carrier, in addition to the replacement of
the flight, to get care. Most often it is a reimbursement of costs associated
with refreshments, accommodation and transport between the airport and
accommodation. The airlines are required to provide to its passengers the
official records of the extraordinary circumstances that occurred.
Unfortunately, the airlines violate this obligation, deliberately and very
often. They are trying to dissuade the occupant from the complaint;
therefore, it is very difficult for passengers to get their financial or other
compensation. Exceptionally, a situation may arise that despite the
demonstrable “Extraordinary circumstances”, the airline is required to pay
compensation. It may thus happen, for example, at the moment, when the
flight is delayed or cancelled due to the strike of air traffic controllers (the
strike of air traffic controllers is included demonstrably among the
extraordinary circumstances), which, however, has already ended, for
example, 6 hours prior to the flight departure. The airline must be able to
provide a remedy in the event of the unwinding of extraordinary
circumstances in the shortest possible time. Passengers may also see the
statement that their airline cannot provide the official records, due to the
corporate or other regulations. The airline should provide the proof free of
charge and in accordance with the provisions on access to documents. The
proof or evidence must be from official sources, and from independent
third parties, which may be an airport or air traffic control. In individual
countries, there are impartial bodies called NEB (National Enforcement
Bodies). In 2013 on the common assembly, these entities decided to put
together a document that will define the correct circumstance, which
belongs among the extraordinary circumstances. This document is called
the Draft list of extraordinary circumstances. This document has only an
informative character and does not solve mutual disputes. In practice, this
means that the court in any dispute may decide quite differently than it is
stated in this document. “The extraordinary event is not inherent in the
normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier and is beyond the actual
control of that carrier on account of its nature or origin.” The European
Court of Justice led this definition to a Regulation of the European
Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 261/2004.
Passengers must not be forgotten that if the airline proves that the
cancellation or delay of a flight was established by extraordinary
circumstances, passengers are entitled to compensation. There are many
websites that help passengers to claim their compensations, like
www.flight-delay.co.uk . For flights up to 1500 km, airline is forced to pay
to its customers 250 € (approximately 220 Ł), for all flights within
European Union 400€ (approximately 355Ł). If the distance is between
1500km and 3500 km from or to an airport outside the European Union,
the compensation is 400 € (approx. 355Ł) and compensation for other
flights is 600 € (approx. 536Ł) (www.flight-delay.co.uk, 2019).
II. Impact on airlines

According to Deshpande and Arikan (2012), a flight delay is if the arrival of

aircraft at the final destination (destination gate) is 15 minutes or more
than the scheduled arrival time. If there is a flight delay, it costs air
carriers money. Firstly, the airline must pay to its employees. According to
Ball et al (2010), airlines create their fleet plans based on the scheduled
flight arrival and departure times, so if there is a flight delay, the costs
associated with the salaries of the crew on duty and the airline itself will
immediately increase. Those schedule or fleet plans are usually planned
more than six months in advance and they are based on the estimate of
the time it takes to complete each flight (Deshpande and Arikan, 2012).
The actual or fleet time is therefore different than the actual arriving or
schedule time. This gives some “spare” time for airlines. Airline flees and
crew schedules are very dependent on the scheduled times of departure
and arrival of the given airline. Crew costs arise from the need to hold
additional crew, both on board and ground, to service the additional flying
time (GOV.UK, 2014). If there is even just a small delay, the airline must
pay, especially for the accommodating of disrupted passengers and even
aircraft repositioning. When it comes to passenger delays , Kohl et al
(2007) highlighted, that the cost depends on the delay at the final
destination of the passenger. Airlines are forced to account for flight
delays and they should also make buffers when it comes to their flight
schedules to avoid long flight delays, which can create extra operational
costs for them. This is very important for classic full-body services, but
also for low cost carriers (LCCs). LCCs usually have several round trips
between their destinations, so flight delay can affect their agility and if the
flight delay is long, it can also lead to the flight cancellation (GOV.UK,
2014). When it comes to airlines operating a hub model, if there is a flight
delay, it can lead to the reduction of performance of the airport as an
effective hub (GOV.UK, 2014) and this will have a huge impact not only for
airline carrier but also for passengers and it will cost a lot of money.
III. Impact on Airports

Airports are limited in capacity by operational constraints. In some cases,

a significant imbalance exists between capacity and demand. (Montlaur
and Delgado, 2017). The flight delay has an impact on airports as well. As
Rahil, Majd and Bouchoum (2017) noted, some passengers prefer to flight
from a larger airports rather than from a smaller airport. One of the
reasons might be the availability of non-stop flights but also perceived
reliability of services. Some customer also said that they prefer to flight
from larger airport because at smaller airport there are many delays and
cancellations of flights caused by a low number of passengers.
Connections from the smaller airport are usually necessary, so departure
or arrival delay may cause missing a connecting flight. Cancelled flight can
lead to frustration and wasted journeys (GOV.UK, 2007). Inconveniences
for the passenger may be caused by leaving them stranded on the runway
(where it can also be dangerous for them), or in the departure lounge.
Airports must be prepared for capacity and facilities for delayed
passengers. This can be a problem in case of a large number of delays
(GOV.UK, 2007) and it can reduce operational stability (Kohl et al, 2007).

According to Yablonsky et al (2014), many departure delays are caused by

the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) Ground
Delay Program (GDP) and also Expected Departure Clearance Time (EDCT)
program. A GDP is a traffic management procedure where aircraft are
delayed at their departure airport in order to manage demand and
capacity at their arrival airport (FAA, 2009).
 3. Solutions

In 2016, www.flight-delay.co.uk produced 6 tips on how to avoid a flight

delay and flight cancellations for passengers. They suggest that
passengers book the first flight of the day because it is very likely that the
aircraft will already be at the airport. Another tip is to “carry on carrying
on”, which means to take the carry bags, which will reduce the chance of
being delayed at the airport. Keeping passengers details up to date – the
airline has its right to change a flight up to two weeks prior to the
departure date, so it is better to keep the profile up to date. Another tip is
to queue online rather than at the airport, so passengers do not waste
time. Another recommendation is to download the airline app, which will
inform passengers about their flight. Last, but not least it to know your
rights, especially when it comes to flight delay compensation.

Airport delays are increasing significantly in the last years. In 2007, the
FAA came with an idea to get the airlines together and have them
collectively hammers out a solution (Whalen et al, 2008). However, this
would require costly compromises on a scheduling decision. Another
solution that was proposed to airport and flight delays is to eliminate the
problem by expanding the airports and improving the air traffic control
systems to eliminate the capacity scarcity (Whalen et al, 2008). This would
lead to spending a lot of money to build a new runway and expand the
airport capacity, such as building new gates. Anyway, there are also
people who think that it will not solve the flight delays.
 4. Conclusion

This report was focused on flight delays and their impact, both on the
passenger, the airline, but also on the airport. In this report, notions like
Montreal Convection, the CURIA, the concept of extraordinary
circumstance and their impact on passengers, were mentioned. Then
compensation on which travellers can apply, if their flight was a delay or
even cancelled, were introduced. Last, but not least, a potential solution to
airline delays and also tips for travellers and how to avoid are these delays
have been mentioned.
 5. Reference List
ABDELGHANY, K.F. et al., 2004. A model for projecting flight delays during
irregular operation conditions. Journal of Air Transport Management, 10(6),
385-394

AEA, 2019. About us Available from: https://www.aea-europe.net/about-

us/aims-and-objectives/

BALL, M. et al., 2010. Total Delay Impact Study.

CURIA, 2017. Rights of passengers in air transport. Available

from: www.curia.europa.eu

DESHPANDE, V. and M. ARIKAN, 2012. The Impact of Airline Flight

Schedules on Flight Delays. Manufacturing and Service Operations
Management, 14(3), 423-440

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 2009. Traffic Flow Management in

the National Airspace system available from
https://www.fly.faa.gov/Products/Training/Traffic_Management_for_Pilots/
TFM_in_the_NAS_Booklet_ca10.pdf

FLIGHT DELAY, 2019. Your rights Available from: https://www.flight-

delayed.co.uk/compensation-flight-delay

GOV.UK and AIRPORTS COMMISSION CONSULTATION, 2014. Delay Impacts

Assessment. Available
from: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/airports

ICAO, 1999. The Montreal Convention for the unification of certain rules for
international carriage by air. Available
from: https://www.iata.org/policy/Documents/position-paper-mc99-july-
2017.pdf

KOHL, N. et al., 2007. Airline disruption management—Perspectives,

experiences and outlook. Journal of Air Transport Management, 13(3), 149-
162
LEE, T.T. and T.L. YIP, 2017. Impact of Flight Departure Delay on Airline
Choice Behavior. The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 33(4), 273-
278

MONTLAUR, A. and L. DELGADO, 2017. Flight and passenger delay

assignment optimization strategies. Transportation Research Part C, 81,
99-117

NATIONAL ENFORCEMENT BODIES (NEB), 2013. Draft list of extraordinary

circumstances.

RAHIL, H., B. ABOU EL MAJD and M. BOUCHOUM, 2017. Airline Schedule

Disruption Management. The impact of flight delays on connection
loss. MATEC Web of Conferences, 105, 13

SHARPLES PETER, 2016. 6 Top Tips how to avoid flight delays and
cancellations Available
from: https://www.flight-delayed.co.uk/blog/2016/12/15/6-top-tips-to-
avoid-flight-delays-and-cancellations

STATISTA, 2019. Number of flights performed by the global airline industry

from 2004-2019 Available
from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/564769/airline-industry-number-
of-flights/

WHALEN, T. et al., 2008. A Solution to Airport Delays. Regulation, 31(1), 30

YABLONSKY, G. et al., 2014. Flight delay performance at Hartsfield-Jackson

Atlanta International Airport. Journal of Airline and Airport
Management, 4(1), 78-95