ATM performance measurement in Europe,the US and China

Air traffic management (ATM) performance and the metrics used in its assessment are investigated for the first time across the three largest ATM world regions: Europe, the US and China. The market structure and flow management practices of each region are presented. A wide range of performance data across these three regions is synthesised. For topological and performance assessment, the notion of a 'sufficient' sample is often non-intuitive: many metrics may behave non-monotonically as a function of sampling fraction. Missing and under-developed metrics are identified, and the need for a balance between standardisation and flexibility is proposed. Longitudinal and cross-sectional metric trade-offs are identified.     

Network analysis of Chinese air transport delay propagation

The Chinese air transport system has witnessed an important evolution in the last dec-ade, with a strong increase in the number of flights operated and a consequent reduction of their punctuality. In this contribution, we propose modelling the process of delay propagation by using complex networks, in which nodes are associated to airports, and links between pairs of them are assigned when a delay propagation is detected. Delay time series are analysed through the well-known Granger Causality, which allows detecting if one time series is causing the dynamics observed in a second one. Results indicate that delays are mostly propagated from small and regio-nal airports, and through flights operated by turbo-prop aircraft. These insights can be used to design strategies for delay propagation dampening, as for instance by including small airports into the system's Collaborative Decision Making.