Understanding the Trade-Off Between Maximum Passenger Throughput and Airline Equity in Allocating Capacity Under Severe Weather Conditions

When the capacity at an airport is reduced because of weather conditions, a ground delay program (GDP) is implemented to resolve the discrepancy between demand for arrival slots and the available arrival slots on a given day. GDPs currently ration the available arrival slots via the proportion of arrivals that exist in the schedule by airline (this practice is termed ration by schedule) with an emphasis on equity among the airlines. Existing rationing schemes do not explicitly consider the number of passengers delayed. This study examined the passenger impacts of a focus on seat throughput in reduced capacity conditions for a GDP at a single airport with consideration for airline equity. An optimization model was developed by using the number of seats available in an aircraft as a proxy for number of passengers and an equity term to estimate airline equity implications. A comparison of the current GDP rationing scheme with one focused on seat delay showed that with no change in the total flight delay time periods, passenger throughput could be improved with a threshold placed on equity. The trade-off between airline equity and passenger throughput and the implications of these results are discussed.