A model for estimating airline passenger trip reliability metrics from system-wide flight simulations

Analysis of the benefits of government modernization initiatives for airports or air traffic control are conducted using complex software models that simulate up to 60,000 flights per day. These flight-centric simulations do not model passenger flows and therefore do not account for passenger trip delays due to cancelled flights and missed connections, which account for up to 60% of the total passenger trip delays. This paper describes a closed-form model for estimating passenger trip reliability metrics from flight delay data from system-wide simulations. The outputs of the model, (i) percent passengers disrupted, (ii) average passenger trip delay, and (iii) total passenger trip delays, are derived from the probability of delayed flights and network structure parameters. The model highlights the role of network structure, in addition to flight on-time performance, on passenger trip reliability. These results have implications for government and industry initiatives to improve flight on-time performance through modernization, consumer protection, and the conduct of benefits analysis.