The airline I worked for had software which calculated the cost of delay and/or cancellation of every flight it operated. Sometimes a flight was delayed because they wanted "my" aircraft to cover for another one for which the cost of delay was much more expensive (think missed connections). So the message was, we're delaying you because it's more expensive to delay someone else. Always good fun with those PA's...
I was even once instructed (by the company) to divert, even though I had enough fuel to stay and hold so that "my" landing slot could be used by another company aircraft for which a diversion would have been a much more costly affair. Sir Humphrey would have been proud of that PA.