A Study on the Critical Meteorological Factors Influencing the Flight Cancelation and Delay: Focusing on Domestic Airports

Abstract

Last April, Europe was severly damaged as all social and economic activities came to a halt prompted by the cancellation of all flights resulting from volcanic ash. This exemplifies that the meteorology conditions have significant influence on the flights of airplanes. Hence, in this research the influence that the meteorology has on the domestic flights and its characteristics will be examined, and the core meteorological factors that influence flights in each airport will be drawn. In order to do this, statistical analysis on the influence that the meteorology has on flights was carried out in order to analyze the data about flight cancelation and delay and also its cause, primarily based on the Gimpo, Gimhae, and the Jeju airports. As a result, first, the meteorological factors which impact flight cancellation and delay were different among the domestic airports, and second, it was analyzed that fog was the main meteorological factor in the Gimpo airport, strong wind in the Jeju airport, and fog in the Gimhae airport. Third, between the day the flights were cancelled and delayed occurred, and the day that weren't, the fact that there existed a difference among the actual meteorological factors was statistically drawn. With the result of such analysis, meteorological factors pertaining to the cancellation and delay of flights must be considered seperately by each airport and specialized meteorological information must be provided accordingly. Further, when selecting the position of an airport that is to be constructed in the future, implications that there is a definite need for the meteorology effect evaluation based on past meteorology data can be drawn.