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Chapter 1: Introduction
In January 2016, Taoyuan Airports Company executives vowed to improve its on time performance (OTP) (Bien & Low, 2016). The 2015 annual punctuality rankings by OAG (Official Aviation Guide of Airways) released showed that Taiwan’s gateway airport was ranked 170 out of 199 major airports in the world, down from 160th the previous year. The company announced that it was opening a second runway in 2016 and that it would improve overall performance at the airport.
One of the most common problems experienced by passengers when travelling by air is a delayed flight (Kim & Lee, 2009; Chen & Chao, 2015; Chow, 2014). Passengers already need to rush through traffic to get to the airport to check in on time only to find out that their flight has been delayed when they arrive at the airport. Late arriving flights cause passengers to reschedule their meetings, miss important events or miss connecting flights. The effects of flight delays also take a toll on airlines. In addition to dealing with passengers unhappy with customer service, flights must be rescheduled, passengers need to be placed on different flights or hotels and the entire network experiences a knock-on effect that puts it out of sync.
Airports are the resource providers of the aviation industry, with its main resources being runway allocation (via the aircraft tower and navigation systems), gate allocation and a meeting point between passengers and airlines. Airports also feel the impact of flight delays; the tarmac gets congested, gates need to be reassigned and the airport needs to handle the excess passengers still waiting or stranded for flights.
Resources at airports should be reallocated in case of a delay, an operation which is both time and cost consuming. Airports that are frequently delayed deter new airlines from operating to the airport and thus hinders market growth.
The low-cost carrier (LCC)
Spurred by tourism and economic growth, a growing market has led many low-cost carriers (LCCs) to enter the market at low prices, increasing demand for air traffic (Wu, 2016; Pearson et. al., 2015). In the United States, Southwest Airlines is an airline that many in the industry regard as the pioneer of low cost air travel. Founded in 1967, the airline shook the traditional airline industry through its aggressive yet efficient and profitable business model. The airline was made famous by pioneering short turnaround times ranging from 15 to 20 minutes (Freiberg & Freiberg, 2006).
Even though such short turnaround times are no longer achievable due to increased security measures post 9/11, Southwest has paved the way for many other LCCs to
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follow suit, basing their business model on “keeping aircraft in the sky and not on the ground” approach while undercutting traditional full service carrier (FSC) prices.
Low cost carriers, often infamous for offering only the bare necessities of air travel and exploiting passenger price elasticity, operate under tight financial and time constraints to undercut their traditional FSC counterparts. LCC’s operate to secondary airports as where airport taxes are cheaper than primary airports.
Passengers flying to these airports normally fly from their first to final destinations, allowing LCC’s to operating a point-to-point network as opposed to hub-and-spoke network for connecting flights. When carried out successfully, LCC’s have enjoyed high growth in the market, often forcing FSC’s to rethink their business models. In Asia, Air Asia is an example of such a successful LCC posting high growth and profit while increasing demand for air traffic.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (Taoyuan or TPE for short) is the largest operating airport in Taiwan managed by the Taoyuan International Airport Corporation and overseen by China Aviation Authority (CAA). It services passenger, cargo and charter flights and serves as a base for the country’s two largest carriers (China Airlines and EVA Air) and their subsidiaries. Due to its geographical location, it also serves as a focus city for Cathay Pacific and Scoot to operate fifth freedom flights1 to Japan and Korea.
Although Taoyuan is considered a primary airport, it attracts most LCC’s operating to Taiwan. Due legislation, only a limited selection of destinations can be operated from the airport and thus also limits the amount of LCC’s that can operate to and from Songshan Airport2 and thus the primary airport, Taoyuan, is where most LCC’s operate to and from in Taiwan.
1 “The Fifth Freedom of the Air is the right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State to put down and to take on, in the territory of the first State, traffic coming from or destined to a third State” (International Civil Aviation Organization, 2004)
2 At the time of writing only two Korean low cost carriers operate to Songshan Airport.
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Figure 1: Comparison of airport landing and parking charges in the Asian region in US dollars
Taoyuan Airport has one of the lowest airport charges (see Figure 1) in the Asian region which further attracts LCC’s to operate to and from Taoyuan as it provides the ideal combination of low airport fees and taxes usually found in secondary airports and access to the primary airport passenger market. Drawing from the conclusions of Dziedzic and Warnock-Smith (2016), this study will provide insight as to how LCC’s adjust their schedules operating to a primary airport as opposed to a secondary airport in the Asian market.
In this paper, we hope to explore airport specific factors that may contribute to an airline delay. This study aims to answer the following questions:
- Can passengers avoid flight delays by trying different airline, destination or timing options?
- Which factors can Taoyuan Airport influence to reduce delays?
- Which factors can airlines influence to reduce delays?
- Which factors show common trends leading to a flight delay?
This paper is further divided into the following sections: 1) a brief overview of past literature relating to flight delays, 2) an overview of the data obtained and used for this study, 3) an explanation on data mining methods used in this study and finally 4) a presentation and analysis of results.
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