Analysis of “Tarmac Delays” at New York Airports

In response to media coverage of so called Tarmac Delays, new Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations come into effect on April 2010. These regulations outline airline responsibilities with regards to flights that remain on the ground in excess of two hours. Included in the regulations are requirements that airlines provide food, water and lavatory service for passengers delayed more than two hours on the tarmac, and for gate resources to be made available for flights to return to the gate and de-plane passengers for flights grounded for more than three hours. This paper describes the results of an analysis of “tarmac delays” at New York Airports from 2005 to 2009 using Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) data: (i) John F. Kennedy (JFK), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and La Guardia Airport (LGA) have been ranked as the top three airports with longest tarmac delays during the last five years, (ii) the probability of a flight experiencing a tarmac delay at a New York airport of greater than 2 hours is 0.54%, (iii) the average tarmac delay was 158 minutes per flight, (iv) June, July and August are the worst month for tarmac delays, (v) flights bound for Chicago O'Hare are the most likely to experience “tarmac delays,” (vi) an estimate of the annual cost to the airlines as a result of tarmac delay regulations at JFK, EWR, AND LGA is $43,859 per year.