The InterFAB Expert… talked about the cost of delay in ATFM

22/04/2021

On April 20, Giuseppe Antonio Gangemi (ENAV), as Operational Performance expert within the InterFAB coordination platform, presented in streaming the results of two studies: “Calculating the total cost per minute of delay in Europe and Adjusted ATFM delay indicator: possible approaches”. The moderator of the talk was Prof. Ibon Galarraga, lecturer at the Basque Center for Climate Change.

After explaining the concept of Delay in the aviation world, the speaker took profit from the studies to help the audience answer two questions:

• Could we improve the calculation of the cost of delay using a new approach?
• Could we potentially detect how much of the delay has been adjusted in real operations, after a flight has come to a complete stop?

As for the first question, a methodology for calculating the cost of ATFM delay was proposed, differently from the current standard set by the Transport Studies Group of the Westminster University in 2003. The new cost function offers promising results in terms of reducing the costs of delay calculated ex-post. This calls for the decision makers to focus on such an alternative.

With regard to the second question, a new methodology was indicated, associated with a new performance indicator which is based on the comparison of flight durations (actual and planned ones). This methodology would help determine how many aircraft - in a specific time interval and to which ATFM delay has been assigned at departure - can adjust part of it during flight operations.