Everyone has delays sometime, for some reason, they are a simple fact of life in our industry- best avoided of course and there is much satisfaction, for all concerned, when the airplane pushes exactly on time- but delays will happen despite our best efforts. The essential thing about delays is 'trend'. Is a particular station under-performing on a consistent basis? Is a given route a problem, while others do well for on time performance. It is all too easy to chase your tail with delay analysis, the airline has to be realistic in its expectations and this should be reflected in the performance targets in the handling agreement. Delay analysis also requires a careful look at taxi and block times, which can often mask a delay problem.
Passengers today won't blink at a 5 minute delay, after all our watches are rarely all set to exactly the same time, but a turnaround delay of 15 minutes or more needs a detailed explantion.
Arrival delay analysis is important from the airlines perspective of course, study of these can often point to route and block time issues.
Last edited by no sig; 9th Dec 2009 at 10:53.