Capacity, Delay, and Schedule Reliability at Major Airports in Europe and the United States

Abstract

Runway system capacity, air traffic delay, scheduling practices, and flight schedule reliability at major airports in Europe and the United States are compared. The comparisons are based on the study of operations at the 34 busiest airports in the United States and at the 34 busiest airports in Europe with the use of extensive data from 2007 and 2008. Major differences were found in several critical respects with important implications for aviation policy makers in both areas. U.S. airports achieve significantly higher capacities, in terms of aircraft movements, than their European counterparts with similar runway system layouts, primarily through the use of visual separation procedures when weather permits. They also achieve higher use of any available airside capacity by not placing constraints on the number of movements that can be scheduled at airports. One of the negative consequences of such policies is a high variability of delays with weather. European airports, however, limit air traffic delay by using slot controls and by determining their declared capacity (i.e., the number of slots they make available) primarily with reference to operations under instrument meteorological conditions. Particularly noteworthy is the sharp deterioration of schedule reliability over the course of a typical day at U.S. airports as measured by the expected value and the standard deviation of delay. European airports, in contrast, exhibit relatively constant schedule reliability throughout the day. A few exceptions to some of the findings are also noted on both sides of the North Atlantic.