A survival model for flight delay propagation

Abstract

This paper examines flight delay propagation involving a Taiwanese domestic airline. The Cox proportional hazards model is used to develop departure and arrival delay models that show how flight delay propagation can be formulated through repeated chain effects in aircraft rotations. The hazard ratios obtained provide measures of the chances of recovering from flight delays under a variety of situations and the effects that individual contributing factors of flight delays have on airline schedule reliability. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.