Estimating Domestic U.S. Airline Cost of Delay based on European Model

Researchers are applying more holistic approaches to the feedback control of the air transportation system. Many of these approaches rely on economic feedback, including the cost of delays to the airlines. Establishing an accurate mechanism for estimating the cost of a delays for each portion of a flight (gate costs, taxiing in and out costs, and en-route costs) is useful for many aspects of modeling airline behavior and for better understanding the likely impact of regulations. EuroControl (2004) developed a rigorous methodology and collected data for estimating the components of airline delay costs for various segments of a scheduled flight. The model, based on confidential information from European airlines for twelve types of aircraft circa 2003, was not transparent with regards to how each of the major components of cost (crew costs, fuel costs, maintenance, depreciation, etc) impacted that total. This paper describes the development of airline cost model, based on the Eurocontrol model. The airline cost model explicitly identifies the components of airline costs, is based on U.S. airline cost data, and includes 111 aircraft types. The new model is designed to allow costs to be updated whenever any of the factors (e.g. crew, fuel, maintenance, and ground costs) change. It considers the type of the aircraft when making calculations, both from the perspective of fuel burn and passenger costs. A case-study analysis of airline costs of operation at 12 major U.S. airports is provided. Keywords-component; airline delay costs; airline delays; economic modeling of airlines