The main aim of the study was to assess the influence of flight delays on business travellers. Studies on flight delays have been done from a number of perspectives; these include the reasons for flights delays, the costs to airlines and airports, the effect on airline scheduling and the impact on airline market share. An area that has received little, if any, attention is the impact of flight delays on business travellers, one of the most lucrative markets for airlines. This study empirically researches the direct cost of flight delays to travellers of a specific corporation. In addition, the use of mobile technology in communicating the occurrence of flight delays to business travellers, and how this could alleviate traveller frustrations, are discussed from a theoretical perspective. The study followed a quantitative methodology to determine man-hours lost and the direct costs of flight delays to travellers from a selected corporation. Two data sets were used, one provided by the corporation on flights undertaken by their corporate travellers over a predetermined period, the other by the Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) on all flights over the same period. The two sets of data were matched and analysed to determine which flights undertaken by the corporate travellers were delayed, based on actual arrival times, and if any significant relationships could be determined between flight delays and types of traveller (frequent versus infrequent) or specific time periods (time of day, day, week and month). The results indicated that frequent travellers experienced the majority of flight delays, and consequently represented the greatest cost to the corporation. The study also found significant relationships between substantial delays and the month of the year, day of the week, and the time of day flown. The identification of patterns could provide business travellers with the information to better manage their travel arrangements and optimise their travel times and costs. In calculating the direct monetary cost, the value of time lost was found not to constitute a substantial amount to the corporation, but this result must be viewed against the limitations of the study. This study serves to provide a foundation for future research into the cost of flight delays to business travellers. Future research should include larger samples (large global or multiple companies could be used) and extend the time periods for assessing delays. Future studies could also include other direct and indirect costs not covered here and the study could be replicated in different geographical areas, particularly areas with a high density of flights such as Asia, the United States of America and Europe. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Tourism Management / unrestricted

This thesis aims to show that a Stacking Ensemble of multiple base-learners can provide a more accurate prediction of commercial flight delays between the ten largest US airports than the individual prediction models. Three types of machine learning models, namely LASSO, Random Forests and Neural Networks are used as base-learners with different hyper- parameters. A Stacking Ensemble is created by using LASSO as meta-learner. The Stacking Ensemble and the base-learners that performed best on the training data are then evaluated on a test data set. The results are compared by the metrics accuracy, ROC AUC, MCC and F1 Score. It is shown that the Stacking Ensemble is able to provide superior predictions for flight delays in comparison to the best individual models.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2017-02-22T21:06:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Henrricco Nieves Pujol Tucci.pdf: 3397813 bytes, checksum: c699bbae1cc911a864bb774413e18dec (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-22T21:06:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Henrricco Nieves Pujol Tucci.pdf: 3397813 bytes, checksum: c699bbae1cc911a864bb774413e18dec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-21 / The aircraft supply is a major cause of flight delays since this process is slow and, if it does not start as soon as the aircraft is available for the maintenance team, the risk of being terminated after the last passenger has already boarded increases. The procedure usually only starts after the information of how much must be supplied get through the flight dispatcher and this information typically take some time to get to the maintenance team. However, it is intended to test a new scenario: start to supply with the minimum quantity of fuel and, if necessary, complete with the amount belatedly informed by dispatcher. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the application of Six Sigma in this process through the Student's t-test and the Statistical Process Control (SPC). Sigma in this process through the Student t test and Statistical Process Control (SPC). The method adopted was multi cases study by interviews and organizational practices observations. The results showed that the new process is favorable in relation to the former, the Case 1 average time of flight delays has been reduced from 14 to 6 minutes (57%), Case 2 average time has been reduced from 10 to 6 minutes (53%), about flight delays quantity upper than 15 minutes, has reduced to 43% and 39% respectively. It concludes that the application of Six Sigma in aircraft refueling process is innovative to the scientific literature and was favorable for both companies, also helped to mitigate the risk of fines and penalties and, consequently, improved the level of quality of service offered by the airline company. / O abastecimento de aeronaves é uma das principais causas de atrasos de voo uma vez que este processo é lento e, caso este não seja iniciado assim que a aeronave esteja disponível para a equipe de manutenção, o risco de ser finalizado depois do último passageiro já ter embarcado aumenta. O processo de abastecimento usualmente só é iniciado após a informação de quanto se deve abastecer, esta informação costuma demorar a chegar para a equipe de manutenção. A melhoria no processo considera iniciar o abastecimento com a quantidade mínima de combustível e, se necessário, completar com a quantidade tardiamente informada. O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar a aplicação do Seis Sigma utilizando o teste t de Student e o Controle Estatístico do Processo (CEP) nas duas maiores companhias aéreas brasileiras. O método adotado foi estudo de múltiplos casos por meio de entrevista e observação na prática organizacional. O resultado demonstra que o tempo médio de atrasos de voo para o Caso 1 foi reduzido após a aplicação do Seis Sigma, de 14 para 6 minutos (57%). Além disso, a quantidade de atrasos acima de quinze minutos foi reduzida em 53%. Já no Caso 2, o tempo médio foi reduzido de 10 para 6 minutos, uma melhora de 43%, quanto a quantidade de atrasos acima de quinze minutos, houve uma redução de 39%. Conclui-se que a aplicação do Seis Sigma no processo de abastecimento de aeronaves é inovadora para a literatura científica e foi favorável para as duas empresas, também colaborou para mitigar os riscos de multas e penalidades e, consequentemente, melhorou o nível de qualidade do serviço oferecido pelas companhias aéreas.

The thesis aims to analyze customer satisfaction in the airlines Travel Service in claiming damages. The theoretical part provides the basic concepts of air transport, legislation on civil aviation, the importance of the position of airlines in Czech and foreign aviation market and the introduction of airline Travel Service. The practical part deals with the definition of fundamental rights of air passengers in claiming damages, especially when claiming baggage and delayed or canceled flights. The practical part has been prepared based on the survey of customers Airlines Travel Service In the final part of this thesis compares Travel Service with selected airlines. This thesis uses descriptive method especially in its theoretical part, analysis and comparison method in the practical part.

In recent years European airspace has become increasingly congested and airlines can now observe that en-route capacity constraints are the fastest growing source of flight delays. In 2010 this source of delay accounted for 19% of all flight delays in Europe and has been increasing with an average yearly rate of 17% from 2005 to 2010. This paper suggests and evaluates an approach to how disruption management can be combined with flight planning in order to create more proactive handling of the kind of disruptions, which are caused by congested airspace. The approach is evaluated using data from a medium size European carrier and estimates a lower bound saving of several million USD.

Weather-related delays in the aviation sector will always occur, however, through effective delay management and improved weather forecasting, the impact and duration of delays can be reduced. The research examined the type of weather that caused departure delays, due to adverse weather at the departure station, namely O. R. Tambo International Airport (ORTIA), over the period 2010 to 2013. It was found that the most significant weather that causes such delays are thunderstorms, followed by fog. Other noteworthy elements are rainfall, without the influence of other weather elements, and icing. It was also found that the accuracy of a weather forecast does not impact on the number of departure delays, and thus departure delays due to weather at the departure station are largely unavoidable. However, the length and impact of such delays can be reduced through improved planning. The study highlights that all weather-related delays can be reduced by improved weather forecasts, effective assessment of the weather forecast, and collaborative and timely decision making. A weather impact index system was designed for ORTIA and recommendations for delay reductions are made. / Geography / M. Sc. (Geography)