Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis
In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of the 2010 Tarmac Delay Rule from a passenger-centric point of view. The Tarmac Delay Rule stipulates that aircraft lift-off, or an opportunity for passengers to deplane, must occur no later than 3 h after the cabin door closure at the gate of the departu...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Elsevier
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119895 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3488-4161 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2431-2706 |
| _version_ | 1811087836473982976 |
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| author | Vaze, Vikrant Vanderboll, Allison Elizabeth Yan, Chiwei Barnhart, Cynthia |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Vaze, Vikrant Vanderboll, Allison Elizabeth Yan, Chiwei Barnhart, Cynthia |
| author_sort | Vaze, Vikrant |
| collection | MIT |
| description | In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of the 2010 Tarmac Delay Rule from a passenger-centric point of view. The Tarmac Delay Rule stipulates that aircraft lift-off, or an opportunity for passengers to deplane, must occur no later than 3 h after the cabin door closure at the gate of the departure airport; and that an opportunity for passengers to deplane must occur no later than 3 h after the touchdown at the arrival airport. The Tarmac Delay Rule aims to protect enplaned passengers on commercial aircraft from excessively long delays on the tarmac upon taxi-out or taxi-in, and monetarily penalizes airlines that violate the stipulated 3-h tarmac time limit. Comparing the actual flight schedule and delay data after the Tarmac Delay Rule was in effect with that before, we find that the Rule has been highly effective in reducing the frequency of occurrence of long tarmac times. However, another significant effect of the rule has been the rise in flight cancellation rates. Cancellations result in passengers requiring rebooking, and often lead to extensive delay in reaching their final destinations. Using an algorithm to estimate passenger delay, we quantify delays to passengers in 2007, before the Tarmac Delay Rule was enacted, and compare these delays to those estimated for hypothetical scenarios with the Tarmac Delay Rule in effect for that same year. Our delay estimates are calculated using U.S. Department of Transportation data from 2007. Through our results and several sensitivity analyses, we show that the overall impact of the current Tarmac Delay Rule is a significant increase in passenger delays, especially for passengers scheduled to travel on the flights which are at risk of long tarmac delays. We evaluate the impacts on passengers of a number of rule variations, including changes to the maximum time on the tarmac, and variations in that maximum by time-of-day. Through extensive scenario analyses, we conclude that a better balance between the conflicting objectives of reducing the frequency of long tarmac times and reducing total passenger delays can be achieved through a modified version of the existing rule. This modified version involves increasing the tarmac time limit to 3.5 h and only applying the rule to flights with planned departure times before 5pm. Finally, in order to implement the Rule more effectively, we suggest the tarmac time limit to be defined in terms of the time when the aircraft begin returning to the gate instead of being defined in terms of the time when passengers are allowed to deplane. Keywords: Aviation, Tarmac Delay Rule, Passenger disruption and delay |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:52:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/119895 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:52:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1198952022-09-28T16:48:51Z Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis Vaze, Vikrant Vanderboll, Allison Elizabeth Yan, Chiwei Barnhart, Cynthia Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Operations Research Center Barnhart, Cynthia Vanderboll, Allison Elizabeth Yan, Chiwei Barnhart, Cynthia In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of the 2010 Tarmac Delay Rule from a passenger-centric point of view. The Tarmac Delay Rule stipulates that aircraft lift-off, or an opportunity for passengers to deplane, must occur no later than 3 h after the cabin door closure at the gate of the departure airport; and that an opportunity for passengers to deplane must occur no later than 3 h after the touchdown at the arrival airport. The Tarmac Delay Rule aims to protect enplaned passengers on commercial aircraft from excessively long delays on the tarmac upon taxi-out or taxi-in, and monetarily penalizes airlines that violate the stipulated 3-h tarmac time limit. Comparing the actual flight schedule and delay data after the Tarmac Delay Rule was in effect with that before, we find that the Rule has been highly effective in reducing the frequency of occurrence of long tarmac times. However, another significant effect of the rule has been the rise in flight cancellation rates. Cancellations result in passengers requiring rebooking, and often lead to extensive delay in reaching their final destinations. Using an algorithm to estimate passenger delay, we quantify delays to passengers in 2007, before the Tarmac Delay Rule was enacted, and compare these delays to those estimated for hypothetical scenarios with the Tarmac Delay Rule in effect for that same year. Our delay estimates are calculated using U.S. Department of Transportation data from 2007. Through our results and several sensitivity analyses, we show that the overall impact of the current Tarmac Delay Rule is a significant increase in passenger delays, especially for passengers scheduled to travel on the flights which are at risk of long tarmac delays. We evaluate the impacts on passengers of a number of rule variations, including changes to the maximum time on the tarmac, and variations in that maximum by time-of-day. Through extensive scenario analyses, we conclude that a better balance between the conflicting objectives of reducing the frequency of long tarmac times and reducing total passenger delays can be achieved through a modified version of the existing rule. This modified version involves increasing the tarmac time limit to 3.5 h and only applying the rule to flights with planned departure times before 5pm. Finally, in order to implement the Rule more effectively, we suggest the tarmac time limit to be defined in terms of the time when the aircraft begin returning to the gate instead of being defined in terms of the time when passengers are allowed to deplane. Keywords: Aviation, Tarmac Delay Rule, Passenger disruption and delay National Center for Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (U.S.) 2019-01-09T19:39:53Z 2019-01-09T19:39:53Z 2016-01 2015-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0965-8564 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119895 Yan, Chiwei, Vikrant Vaze, Allison Vanderboll, and Cynthia Barnhart. “Tarmac Delay Policies: A Passenger-Centric Analysis.” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 83 (January 2016): 42–62. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3488-4161 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2431-2706 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2015.11.004 Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier Prof. Barnhart via Anne Graham |
| spellingShingle | Vaze, Vikrant Vanderboll, Allison Elizabeth Yan, Chiwei Barnhart, Cynthia Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis |
| title | Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis |
| title_full | Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis |
| title_fullStr | Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis |
| title_short | Tarmac delay policies: A passenger-centric analysis |
| title_sort | tarmac delay policies a passenger centric analysis |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119895 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3488-4161 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2431-2706 |
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