MIT Reports Airline Scheduling to Blame for Delays

In what it calls a passenger-centric approach to studying delays, Massachusetts Institute of Technology said airline scheduling is largely to blame for the massive delays experienced this summer. This is no surprise since past gridlock crises proved that airline scheduling has as much to do with delays and cancellations as does an antiquated ATC system or weather. When counting disrupted passengers – which include both canceled and delayed flights – the average delay rises about 66 percent from 15.4 minutes to 25.6 minutes. More importantly, if this were addressed, delays could be reduced by 40 percent, according to Cynthia Barnhart, who did the study and who appeared on Good Morning America this morning. For a complete analysis see the July 16 issue of Regional Aviation News.