Dynamics of Disruption and Recovery in Air Transportation Networks

Flight delays occur in the air transportation system when disruptive events such as weather, equipment outage, or congestion create an imbalance between capacity and demand. These cycles of disruptions subsequent recoveries can be viewed from a dynamical systems perspective: exogenous inputs (convective airspace restrictions, etc.) disrupt system, inducing inefficiencies which eventually recovers. We study these disruption recovery through state-space representation that captures severity spatial impact airport delays. In particular, using US delay data 2008-2017, we first identify representative cycles. provide insights into common operational patterns system. also relate to specific off-nominal outages, elucidate differing disruption-recovery pathways for various events. Finally, explore temporal trends terms how tends disrupted, recovery.