Systemic delay propagation in the US airport network

The upsetting consequences of flight delays are well known to any traveler. What is less well understood is how these delays rise, propagate and eventually involve an important part of the airport network. In this work Fleurquin, Ramasco and Eguiluz analyze the dynamics of flight delays constrained to a pre-established schedules that defines a baseline to asses the system performance. To do so, they developed a realistic agent-based model, using data records of all the flights of 2010, that reproduces the delay patterns observed in the real unfolding events. The simulations results indicate that there is no need to have a large-scale disruption to produce a high level of congestion. Even under normal operating conditions, internal factors, such as passenger and crew connectivity, can propagate and magnify the delays generating a high level of congestion throughout the network. Our model can thus explore the network resilience to this phenomena and assess different management tools to overcome this devastating problem.

• Scientific Reports

• CSIC press
• MIT technology reviews
• Daily Mail
• Discover Magazine
• Air Nation blog
• El Mundo
• The Atlantic Cities
• Science Daily
• El Economista
• Solo Ciencia
• Tecnología UIB
• UIB Press Release
• El Mundo. Baleópolis