DELAYS AT LOGAN AIRPORT
Kathleen Garcia-Manjarres (260577557)
Yanick Gelinas (260586919)
Philippe Pastrie (260586329)
Philippe Rich (260587672)
Presented to
Beste Kucukyazici
MGCR 472: Operations Management
McGill University
March 20th, 2014
Executive Summary
State the major issues. If you do not intend to address all of the major problems in
your recommendations, then indicate which one(s) you do intend to address. Use
caution in your selection. Do not choose a minor problem with an obvious solution.
Next, summarize your recommendations. Indicate the results you expect. This
section of the report should take from one to two paragraphs.
In 2001, Boston’s Logan Airport was ranked as the fifth most significantly
delayed airport in the country (source). Furthermore, demand for the use of the Logan is
said to increase from 479,000 to a maximum of 656,000 annual operations. Such demand
and pressure to improve its service forces local planning officials to find solutions for the
increasing amount of delays the airport is facing. The causes of delays derive from
adverse weather conditions, over scheduling, the airports location and its peculiar mix of
airplanes. The combination of such issues forced Boston’s Logan Airport to come up
with the following solution to the delays they are facing: Regional solutions, a new
runway or the implementation of demand management.
Problem Analysis
Logan Airport faces several critical issues that hinder its operational efficiency.
The airport’s primary problem is its susceptibility to massive delays, which are mainly
caused by overscheduling, an increasing demand and adverse weather conditions.
Moreover, the airport’s peculiar airplane mix and geographical location are secondary
problems that impede its operations. All these problems have the negative effect of
increasing customer complaints.
Logan Airport’s flight delays are a primary problem that needs an immediate
solution. With its current runway capacity and service rate, the airport experiences
passenger and operational costs that vary from $71.27 to $4,641.43 per plane (depending
on the plane type and arrival rate) (Figure #1). Contrary to the FAA’s definition, we posit
that flights are considered delayed the second they run late, and thus the airport needs to
aim for zero delays. Operational losses and passengers’ frustrations start as soon as an
airplane is late, not fifteen minutes after the scheduled time. More importantly, in the
long run, even few minutes of delay for each flight becomes a substantial loss for the
airport. The increased demand in airplane arrivals and departures is an important cause of
delays. The situation can only worsen in the future, as the total operations are expected to
increase by is as much as 37% by 2015. Overscheduling issues during peak hours (18h)
(Case, Exhibit 8) will also intensity as demand increases. The airport cannot operate with
a number of aircraft operations that exceed the maximum capacity of 120 operations per
hour. Overscheduling and an increasing demand are major issues because they cause
many consequences: a loss of revenue due to passenger and operational costs, a
microeconomic shortage and unsatisfied customers (quadruped in U.S. from 1995 to
2000) (Case, p.1). Logan Airport is vulnerable to changing weather conditions. The
operational capacity decreases enormously when weather conditions worsen (from 118-
126 operations/hours to 40-60 operations/hour). The magnitude of the impact of adverse
weather conditions –seventy to seventy-five percent of delays (Case, p.2)- makes it’s a
central issue that needs to be resolved rapidly.
Logan’s peculiar mix of airplanes is a secondary problem that complicates its
