Analysis of Gate-Hold Delays At the OEP-35 Airports

One point of congestion in the air transportation system is the set of gates at a terminal. When an inbound flight is unable to pull into its assigned gate, the flight, its connecting passengers, and its flight crews experience delays and missed connections. Previous research has focussed on optimizing gate assignments, both scheduled and disrupted, and optimizing surface flow. This paper analyzes the degree to which gate hold is a problem and the functional causes of gate hold. Analysis of flight performance data for 35 OEP airports for the summer of 2007 identifies that: (i) Significant gate-hold delays, in which more than 30% of arriving aircraft are delayed, occurred at 11 of the OEP-35 airports, (ii) major gate-hold delays are rare events (e.g., once a month at ATL), (iii) on days when there is a major gate hold, large delays are experienced by all major carriers at the airport, (iv) the primary causes of gate-hold delays are increased turnaround times and/or disrupted arrival/departure banks. The methodology for analysis, the results, and the implications of these results are discussed. Keywords—gate; congestion; delay; disruption; gate hold