Flight Delay

To comply with security and airline protocol, air travelers should arrive at the airport well in advance of their flight. Without realizing the probability of adverse conditions at the time of the scheduled departure, they may experience inconvenient delays at the airport. Delays can be short and relatively easy to manage, or they can cause long hours of waiting in crowded airports. Flight delays can even cause forced overnight stays at local hotels or inside the terminal. Travelers could benefit from knowing the likelihood of a delay as it could help them prepare for the wait time. Can an app be developed that predicts the impact of weather on airplane departure times?

About two years ago, we took off from Cluj-Napoca on Thursday and we came back after five days! Why? Thick fog reduced the visibility below 100m and the airport was closed. Some passengers were traveling with babies and needed more diapers or milk. Some needed their daily medication, or simply the phone charger, which was in their checked-in luggage. Should passengers be informed of the expected operational delay, they would be able to plan their wait time in a safer and more efficient manner.

So what does the application:

• Inform passengers when flight delays are expected due to weather factors.
• Present the minimum legal requirements vs. actual conditions.
• List passenger’s rights in case of major delays!

How we did it:

• Creating a “Captain Overview” app to analyze the “Operational Reasons”: Actual and short term forecast at departure and destination including wind gusts, wind shear, icing (deicing), fog (LVO) in relation to airport capabilities, weather en-route.

• Integrating this data with:
  • Airport limitations
  • Company / Aircraft type limitations
  • Reactionary (aircraft arriving with delay from its previous flight will automatically create a delay for the next departure)

TIPS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

• Encourage airlines to use this app in order communicate better with their customers when the difficult situation will arise.
• Plain simple explanation of LEGAL minima requirements vs. ACTUAL WEATHER so flight crews won't be needed to explain the reason for the delay as the app will point out the factor causing the problem.

We aggregated free data picked from:
- Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) - weather service METARs : http://www.aviationweather.gov/adds/
- OpenFlights - Runway data : http://http://openflights.org/
- FlightGear - ILS Category: http://www.flightgear.org/
- Minimums - Aircraft performance data sheet
- Google Maps - Flight plan trajectory: http://maps.google.com/
- ROMATSA (Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration) - Flight plan information, Estimated time of departure, Delay (if applicable): http://www.romatsa.ro/
- Eurocontrol - Slots: https://www.eurocontrol.int/