What do we know about aircraft delays?

On Wednesday, Eno released the seventh policy brief in the Eno Aviation Insights series – What do we know about aircraft delays?

Flight delays are not only a cause of major frustration for passengers but they also come with a $32 billion hit on the American economy each year. Current data on this issue lacks transparency and granularity, so precisely answering who is responsible for delays is difficult.

There are some things that can be gleaned from the information currently available however. Eno’s seventh Aviation Insights Brief delves into this issue:

What do we know about aircraft delays?

  • The percent of reported on-time domestic flights has remained relatively constant since 2003, but during that same time airlines have increased the schedule times for their flights. With scheduling and reporting data lacking transparency and granularity, it is not possible to answer who or what is responsible for most delays with sufficient precision. 
  • Better data is needed to assess both the efficiency of flights and the effectiveness of public investments in the national airspace system. While there is plenty of data available in the United States on airports and airlines, there is no comparable data published on how the system operates, how public dollars can improve problems with airport capacity, and on the ATC system. 

Read the full brief here.

Eno Aviation Insights answers the questions that the media and consumers regularly ask but are difficult to dissect. These policy briefs not only look at system-wide averages, but also discern what is happening in markets across the United States.

Search Eno Transportation Weekly

Latest Issues

Happening on the Hill

Tags