Impact of delays and cancellations on travel from small community airports

Abstract

Commercial air service is important to residents and tourists in small communities, but small communities have seen a reduction (and sometimes elimination) of commercial air service. Anecdotal evidence suggests that flight interruptions (delays and cancellations) negatively impact these airports, as local residents drive to nearby hubs instead of flying from the local airport. This study looks at the impact of delays and cancellations by considering their effect on an entire travel itinerary. This study investigates 207 itineraries from eight small American airports to 11 hub airports. On average, passengers on about one in six (16.4%) connecting itineraries would face a missed connection due to delay or cancellation. In addition, delays on origin flights magnify across connections. An average delay on the initial flight (68 min) would lead to an average arrival delay of 90 min across all itineraries, while a cancellation would lead to an arrival delay of over 10 h. This study also introduces a measure of overall lateness that combines delay and cancellation percentages with final destination arrival times across nonstop and connecting itineraries. These flight interruptions may have consequences on maintaining air service, which affects community residents and potential visitors.