Analysis of Gate-waiting Delays at Major US Airports

Airport gates are one of the congestion points of the air transportation system. When an arriving flight lands on a runway, it is possible that it cannot pull into its gate. We define this phenomenon as gate-waiting delay. This paper analyzes the degree to which gate waiting is a problem and the functional causes of gate waiting. Analysis of flight performance data for the OEP 35 airports for the summer of 2007 identified that: (i) Significant gate-waiting delays, in which more than 30% of arriving aircraft are delayed, occurred at 10 of the OEP 35 airports, (ii) major gate-waiting delays are rare events (e.g., once a month at ATL), (iii) Gate-waiting delays are usually different among major carriers due to different scheduling strategies. For example, Delta schedules more aggressively on their gate capacity (overscheduling) than JetBlue at JFK. (iv) Functional origins of gate-waiting delay included compressed arrivals, extended gate occupancy times, reduced number of gates, and inflexible queueing disciplines (across carriers and within one carrier). Many of these origins are related to schedule disruptions which are the main common factor identified in the worst days. The methodology for analysis, the results, and the implications of these results are discussed.