A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System
Thesis: S.M. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2014.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90073 |
| _version_ | 1826204070808911872 |
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| author | Njuguna, Esther Nyokabi |
| author2 | Cynthia Barnhart and Vikrant Vaze. |
| author_facet | Cynthia Barnhart and Vikrant Vaze. Njuguna, Esther Nyokabi |
| author_sort | Njuguna, Esther Nyokabi |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis: S.M. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2014. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:48:27Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/90073 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:48:27Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/900732019-04-12T11:10:42Z A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System Njuguna, Esther Nyokabi Cynthia Barnhart and Vikrant Vaze. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Civil and Environmental Engineering. Thesis: S.M. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2014. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 134-135). Recent research on the U.S. National Air Transportation System has shown that approximately 50% of delays suffered by passengers are a result of passenger travel disruptions in the form of either flight cancellations or missed connections. There exists significant variation in the propensity for disruptions across airports and carriers, based on key factors such as scheduling practices, network structures, and passenger connections. In this thesis, we conduct a longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the U.S. over the 2006 - 2010 calendar years and analyze the trends in, and impacts of, various scheduling and operational factors across the years. We illustrate the interdependencies of carrier-related factors and airport-related factors, and the resulting impact on passenger travel disruptions. In our analysis, we use passenger travel data spanning five years. This passenger travel data is estimated from publicly available data sources using a methodology previously developed to disaggregate passenger demand data. We find that across the years, flight cancellations, which are the leading cause for passenger disruptions, vary substantially across carriers even when baseline variability across airports is accounted for. Both passenger and operational considerations play a very significant role in cancellation decisions. We explore the effect of load factors and flight frequency on cancellation rates across the carriers and determine that the level of impact of these two factors varies across carrier types, with the cancellation decisions among the regional carriers being influenced more by load factor considerations than by flight frequency. Much of the variability in missed connections at the airport and carrier level can be explained by the flight delays observed. However, an airline's scheduling practices are also a critical factor that affects the rate of misconnections. Highly banked (peaked) flight schedules reduce passenger connection times and result in higher misconnection rates. We find that significant trends and events in the aviation industry, including the Valentine's Day Storm of February 14, 2007, the demise of Aloha Airlines in 2008, the trend towards capacity discipline among legacy carriers after 2008, and Delta and Northwest Airlines' merger in 2010 have had a significant impact on both cancellations and misconnections. by Esther Nyokabi Njuguna. S.M. in Transportation 2014-09-19T21:38:08Z 2014-09-19T21:38:08Z 2014 2014 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90073 890141627 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 137 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Civil and Environmental Engineering. Njuguna, Esther Nyokabi A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System |
| title | A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System |
| title_full | A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System |
| title_fullStr | A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System |
| title_full_unstemmed | A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System |
| title_short | A longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the National Air Transportation System |
| title_sort | longitudinal analysis of passenger travel disruptions in the national air transportation system |
| topic | Civil and Environmental Engineering. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90073 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT njugunaesthernyokabi alongitudinalanalysisofpassengertraveldisruptionsinthenationalairtransportationsystem AT njugunaesthernyokabi longitudinalanalysisofpassengertraveldisruptionsinthenationalairtransportationsystem |