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Do Airlines Pad Their Schedules?

Author

Listed:
  • Silke J. Forbes

    (Tufts University)

  • Mara Lederman

    (University of Toronto)

  • Zhe Yuan

    (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

We analyze how schedule times, actual flight times and on-time performance have changed in the U.S. airline industry between 1990 and 2016. We find schedule times have increased in most years, with the largest increases after 2008. Actual flight times and total travel times have also increased but by less than schedule times and the gap has grown over time. This has resulted in reduced arrival delays even though flights are, in fact, taking longer to complete. We discuss the implications of these findings for quality provision and information disclosure within the airline industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Silke J. Forbes & Mara Lederman & Zhe Yuan, 2019. "Do Airlines Pad Their Schedules?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(1), pages 61-82, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:54:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11151-018-9632-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-018-9632-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Brueckner, Jan K. & Czerny, Achim I. & Gaggero, Alberto A., 2021. "Airline mitigation of propagated delays via schedule buffers: Theory and empirics," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    3. Gnutzmann, Hinnerk & Śpiewanowski, Piotr, 2023. "Can consumer rights improve on-time performance? Evidence from European Air Passenger Rights," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 155-168.
    4. Tan, Xinlong & Jia, Rongwen & Yan, Jia & Wang, Kun & Bian, Lei, 2021. "An Exploratory analysis of flight delay propagation in China," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Arora, Swapan Deep & Mathur, Sameer, 2020. "Effect of airline choice and temporality on flight delays," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Bet, Germán, 2021. "Product specification under a threat of entry: Evidence from Airlines’ departure times," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Myongjin Kim & Qihong Liu & Nicholas G. Rupp, 2023. "When Do Firms Offer Higher Product Quality? Evidence from the Allocation of Inflight Amenities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 149-177, March.
    8. Chandrasekhar Manchiraju & Milind G. Sohoni & Vinayak Deshpande, 2023. "It's not simply luck: The impact of network strategy, schedule padding, and operational improvements on domestic on‐time performance in the US airline industry," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(11), pages 3559-3574, November.
    9. Roucolle, Chantal & Seregina, Tatiana & Urdanoz, Miguel, 2020. "Network development and excess travel time," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 139-152.
    10. Abdelghany, Ahmed & Guzhva, Vitaly S. & Abdelghany, Khaled, 2023. "The limitation of machine-learning based models in predicting airline flight block time," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    11. Brueckner, Jan K. & Czerny, Achim I. & Gaggero, Alberto A., 2022. "Airline delay propagation: A simple method for measuring its extent and determinants," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 55-71.
    12. Chu, Ziyan & Zhou, Yichen Christy, 2023. "The effect of adopting the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) on air travel performance," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Gil, Ricard & Kim, Myongjin, 2021. "Does competition increase quality? Evidence from the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Calzada, Joan & Fageda, Xavier, 2023. "Airport dominance, route network design and flight delays," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).

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