IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transe/v69y2014icp54-74.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Flight delay impact on airfare and flight frequency: A comprehensive assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Zou, Bo
  • Hansen, Mark

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive empirical analysis of flight delay impact on airfare and flight frequency in the US air transportation system. We model airfare and flight frequency as functions of cost and demand characteristics, competition effects, and flight delays at origin, destination, and intermediate hub airports. Estimation results confirm that airlines tend to pass delay cost onto passengers through higher fare, whereas delay has an upward effect on flight frequency. We find that proportionate airport delay reduction across the system can result in annual fare reduction in the order of billion dollars.

Suggested Citation

  • Zou, Bo & Hansen, Mark, 2014. "Flight delay impact on airfare and flight frequency: A comprehensive assessment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 54-74.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:54-74
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2014.05.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554514000933
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tre.2014.05.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reynolds-Feighan, Aisling J. & Button, Kenneth J., 1999. "An assessment of the capacity and congestion levels at European airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 113-134.
    2. Wenbin Wei & Mark Hansen, 2003. "Cost Economics of Aircraft Size," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 37(2), pages 279-296, May.
    3. Givoni, Moshe & Rietveld, Piet, 2009. "Airline's choice of aircraft size - Explanations and implications," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 500-510, June.
    4. Zou, Bo & Hansen, Mark, 2012. "Impact of operational performance on air carrier cost structure: Evidence from US airlines," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1032-1048.
    5. Mohring, Herbert, 1972. "Optimization and Scale Economies in Urban Bus Transportation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 591-604, September.
    6. Jan K. Brueckner & Nichola J. Dyer & Pablo T. Spiller, 1992. "Fare Determination in Airline Hub-and-Spoke Networks," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 309-333, Autumn.
    7. Pai, Vivek, 2010. "On the factors that affect airline flight frequency and aircraft size," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 169-177.
    8. Hsiao, Chieh-Yu & Hansen, Mark, 2011. "A passenger demand model for air transportation in a hub-and-spoke network," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1112-1125.
    9. Forbes, Silke J., 2008. "The effect of air traffic delays on airline prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1218-1232, September.
    10. Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2008. "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1611-1633.
    11. David R. Graham & Daniel P. Kaplan & David S. Sibley, 1983. "Efficiency and Competition in the Airline Industry," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 118-138, Spring.
    12. Hofer, Christian & Windle, Robert J. & Dresner, Martin E., 2008. "Price premiums and low cost carrier competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 864-882, September.
    13. Hansen, Mark M. & Gillen, David & Djafarian-Tehrani, Reza, 2001. "Aviation infrastructure performance and airline cost: a statistical cost estimation approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1-23, March.
    14. Britto, Rodrigo & Dresner, Martin & Voltes, Augusto, 2012. "The impact of flight delays on passenger demand and societal welfare," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 460-469.
    15. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lee, Darin & Singer, Ethan S., 2013. "Airline competition and domestic US airfares: A comprehensivereappraisal," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17.
    16. Severin Borenstein, 1989. "Hubs and High Fares: Dominance and Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 344-365, Autumn.
    17. Youdi Schipper & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp, 2002. "European Airline Reform: An Empirical Welfare Analysis," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 36(2), pages 189-209, May.
    18. Hurdle, Gloria J, et al, 1989. "Concentration, Potential Entry, and Performance in the Airline Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 119-139, December.
    19. Jan K. Brueckner & Yimin Zhang, 2001. "A Model of Scheduling in Airline Networks: How a Hub-and-Spoke System Affects Flight Frequency, Fares and Welfare," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 195-222, May.
    20. Steven A. Morrison, 2001. "Actual, Adjacent, and Potential Competition Estimating the Full Effect of Southwest Airlines," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 239-256, May.
    21. Wei, Wenbin & Hansen, Mark, 2005. "Impact of aircraft size and seat availability on airlines' demand and market share in duopoly markets," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 315-327, July.
    22. Evans, Antony & Schäfer, Andreas, 2013. "The rebound effect in the aviation sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 158-165.
    23. Swaroop, Prem & Zou, Bo & Ball, Michael O. & Hansen, Mark, 2012. "Do more US airports need slot controls? A welfare based approach to determine slot levels," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1239-1259.
    24. Chi, Junwook & Koo, Won W., 2009. "Carriers' pricing behaviors in the United States airline industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 710-724, September.
    25. Li Zou & Martin Dresner & Robert Windle, 2011. "Many Fields of Battle How Cost Structure Affects Competition Across Multiple Markets," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 45(1), pages 21-40, January.
    26. Brueckner, Jan K & Spiller, Pablo T, 1994. "Economies of Traffic Density in the Deregulated Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 379-415, October.
    27. Zou, Bo & Hansen, Mark, 2012. "Flight delays, capacity investment and social welfare under air transport supply-demand equilibrium," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 965-980.
    28. Liu, Yi & Hansen, Mark & Zou, Bo, 2013. "Aircraft gauge differences between the US and Europe and their operational implications," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brito, Igor R.S. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M. & Dresner, Martin E., 2021. "An econometric study of the effects of airport privatization on airfares in Brazil," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 338-349.
    2. Li, Max Z. & Ryerson, Megan S., 2019. "Reviewing the DATAS of aviation research data: Diversity, availability, tractability, applicability, and sources," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 111-130.
    3. Sternberg, Alice & Carvalho, Diego & Murta, Leonardo & Soares, Jorge & Ogasawara, Eduardo, 2016. "An analysis of Brazilian flight delays based on frequent patterns," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 282-298.
    4. Wandelt, Sebastian & Sun, Xiaoqian, 2015. "Evolution of the international air transportation country network from 2002 to 2013," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 55-78.
    5. Ball, Michael O. & Berardino, Frank & Hansen, Mark, 2018. "The use of auctions for allocating airport access rights," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 186-202.
    6. Zhu, Feng & Wu, Xu & Cao, Chengxuan, 2021. "High-speed rail and air transport competition under high flight delay conditions in China: A case study of the Beijing-Shanghai corridor," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Fageda, Xavier & Flores-Fillol, Ricardo, 2016. "How do airlines react to airport congestion? The role of networks," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 73-81.
    8. Yu, Bin & Guo, Zhen & Asian, Sobhan & Wang, Huaizhu & Chen, Gang, 2019. "Flight delay prediction for commercial air transport: A deep learning approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 203-221.
    9. Xu, Yifan & Adler, Nicole & Wandelt, Sebastian & Sun, Xiaoqian, 2024. "Competitive integrated airline schedule design and fleet assignment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 314(1), pages 32-50.
    10. Martina Zámková & Martin Prokop, 2015. "The Evaluation of Factors Influencing Flights Delay at Czech International Airports," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 63(6), pages 2187-2196.
    11. Hansen, Mark & Liu, Yi, 2015. "Airline competition and market frequency: A comparison of the s-curve and schedule delay models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 301-317.
    12. Chen, Jihui, 2024. "The pricing and quality effects of network structure choice: Evidence from American airlines’ international route cancellations," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Chen, Shenwen & Du, Wenbo & Liu, Runran & Cao, Xianbin, 2023. "Finding spatial and temporal features of delay propagation via multi-layer networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 614(C).
    14. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian, 2014. "Network similarity analysis of air navigation route systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 416-434.
    15. Lee, Won Seok & Tang, Ruohan & Moon, Joonho & Song, Myungkeun, 2022. "The structural relationship between a low-cost carrier’s service experience, corporate social responsibility, brand love, and reuse intention: The case of Southwest Airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    16. Miranda, Victor A.P. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2018. "Airport slots and the internalization of congestion by airlines: An empirical model of integrated flight disruption management in Brazil," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 201-219.
    17. Du, Wen-Bo & Zhang, Ming-Yuan & Zhang, Yu & Cao, Xian-Bin & Zhang, Jun, 2018. "Delay causality network in air transport systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 466-476.
    18. Y. X. Lee & Z. W. Zhong, 2016. "A study of the relationship between adverse weather conditions and flight delay," Journal of Advances in Technology and Engineering Research, A/Professor Akbar A. Khatibi, vol. 2(4), pages 112-117.
    19. Presto, Felix & Gollnick, Volker & Lau, Alexander & Lütjens, Klaus, 2022. "Flight frequency regulation and its temporal implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 106-118.
    20. Liu, Ke & Zheng, Zhe & Zou, Bo & Hansen, Mark, 2023. "Airborne flight time: A comparative analysis between the U.S. and China," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    21. Zou, Bo & Kafle, Nabin & Chang, Young-Tae & Park, Kevin, 2015. "US airport financial reform and its implications for airport efficiency: An exploratory investigation," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 66-78.
    22. Lee, Enoch & Kawakita, Takuya & Huai, Yue & Lo, Hong K. & Zhang, Anming, 2024. "Airline and high-speed rail collaboration and competition under travel time variability," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fageda, Xavier, 2014. "What hurts the dominant airlines at hub airports?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 177-189.
    2. Borsati, Mattia & Fageda, Xavier, 2024. "Airline price responses in the face of demand shocks: European lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    3. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lee, Darin & Singer, Ethan S., 2013. "Airline competition and domestic US airfares: A comprehensivereappraisal," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17.
    4. Fu, Xiaowen & Jin, Huan & Liu, Shaoxuan & Oum, Tae H. & Yan, Jia, 2019. "Exploring network effects of point-to-point networks: An investigation of the spatial patterns of Southwest Airlines’ network," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 36-45.
    5. Gayle, Philip G. & Wu, Chi-Yin, 2013. "A re-examination of incumbents’ response to the threat of entry: Evidence from the airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 119-130.
    6. Presto, Felix & Gollnick, Volker & Lau, Alexander & Lütjens, Klaus, 2022. "Flight frequency regulation and its temporal implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 106-118.
    7. Britto, Rodrigo & Dresner, Martin & Voltes, Augusto, 2012. "The impact of flight delays on passenger demand and societal welfare," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 460-469.
    8. Gil, Ricard & Kim, Myongjin, 2021. "Does competition increase quality? Evidence from the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    9. Fageda, Xavier & Jiménez, Juan Luis & Perdiguero, Jordi & Marrero, Kevin, 2017. "Does market exit of a network airline affect airline prices and frequencies on tourist routes?," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 465-471.
    10. Fukui, Hideki, 2014. "Effect of slot trading on route-level competition: Evidence from experience in the UK," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 124-141.
    11. Fageda, Xavier & Flores-Fillol, Ricardo, 2012. "Air services on thin routes: Regional versus low-cost airlines," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 702-714.
    12. Joan Calzada & Xavier Fageda, 2012. "Discounts and Public Service Obligations in the Airline Market: Lessons from Spain," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 40(4), pages 291-312, June.
    13. Jan Brueckner & Darin Lee & Ethan Singer, 2014. "City-Pairs Versus Airport-Pairs: A Market-Definition Methodology for the Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(1), pages 1-25, February.
    14. Fan, Terence Ping Ching & Tan, Alex Tai Loong & Geng, Xuesong, 2014. "Rapid capacity expansions and failure: A trap for new airline entrants?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 176-191.
    15. Zhang, Shengrun & Derudder, Ben & Witlox, Frank, 2013. "The impact of hub hierarchy and market competition on airfare pricing in US hub-to-hub markets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 65-70.
    16. Fukui, Hideki, 2019. "How do slot restrictions affect airfares? New evidence from the US airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 51-71.
    17. Zhang, Yahua & Sampaio, Breno & Fu, Xiaowen & Huang, Zhibin, 2018. "Pricing dynamics between airline groups with dual-brand services," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 46-59.
    18. Zhang, Qiong & Yang, Hangjun & Wang, Qiang & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Market power and its determinants in the Chinese airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Yanhao Wei, 2018. "Airline networks, traffic densities, and value of links," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 341-370, September.
    20. Dunn, Abe, 2008. "Do low-quality products affect high-quality entry? Multiproduct firms and nonstop entry in airline markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1074-1089, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:54-74. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.