Airport Factors

From time to time, news agencies and government regulators will march out on time performance rankings of US airlines. These same outlets will have you believe that the airlines at the top of the list are so much better than those at the bottom. For the most part, these insinuations are not inaccurate – at least in the time frame the metrics were analyzed. However, there is something that I have never actually seen taken into consideration with these lists that I believe could change the perception of airlines; that being the airport variable. We all know there are certain airports that are just prone to delays and cancellations. I’m sure you could name one off the top of your head. This could be due to many factors including an above average risk of bad weather, large passenger volumes and airport capacity constraints.

Based on this assumption - that not all airports are created equal – it would only be fair to adjust these rankings based on the airports that each airline flies from. So that is what I intend to do.

For this initial research, I only looked at the year 2016. I plan on including multiple years soon. I used data provided by the Department of Transportation (DOT) – specifically departure on time performance numbers. The data set allowed me to break down the numbers by airport. A quick calculation gave me the percentage of on time departures from each airport in 2016. I then used those numbers to create an airport factor that can be used to adjust average on time performance numbers for each individual airline. By design, the airport factor and the percentage of on time departures from each airport are perfectly correlated.

Below is a list of 294 domestic airports and their average on time departure percentage as well as the corresponding airport factor for 2016. My next post will be about using these airport factors to adjust individual carriers on time performance statistics.

Airports with factors above 100 are those where more overall on time departures occur than those - at a combined average - of the other airports.

ORIGIN	On Time %	Airport Factor
LWS	0.954	112.7
HLN	0.948	112.0
BET	0.934	110.3
EKO	0.931	110.0
PIH	0.930	109.9
ITO	0.930	109.8
GJT	0.929	109.8
TYR	0.928	109.6
BTM	0.926	109.4
GTF	0.925	109.2
LIH	0.924	109.2
SCC	0.923	109.1
BIL	0.923	109.1
GCC	0.923	109.1
SGU	0.922	108.9
CPR	0.922	108.9
ANC	0.921	108.8
HNL	0.919	108.6
YUM	0.919	108.6
BLI	0.917	108.4
CDC	0.917	108.3
RKS	0.915	108.1
YAK	0.913	107.9
FCA	0.909	107.4
SIT	0.909	107.4
IDA	0.909	107.3
JNU	0.906	107.0
LSE	0.905	106.9
BRD	0.905	106.9
KOA	0.904	106.7
ABR	0.903	106.7
CDV	0.902	106.6
BJI	0.901	106.5
OGG	0.900	106.3
ADQ	0.899	106.1
FAI	0.898	106.1
BRW	0.897	105.9
AMA	0.896	105.8
GRK	0.894	105.6
OTZ	0.894	105.6
FNT	0.893	105.5
TWF	0.891	105.2
MSO	0.890	105.2
ISN	0.890	105.1
GFK	0.889	105.1
EYW	0.889	105.0
COD	0.885	104.5
PSG	0.883	104.3
KTN	0.883	104.3
BFL	0.883	104.3
GEG	0.882	104.2
MOT	0.882	104.2
LCH	0.882	104.2
HSV	0.881	104.1
ECP	0.881	104.1
FSM	0.880	103.9
BRO	0.879	103.8
ATW	0.878	103.7
LNK	0.878	103.7
MAF	0.878	103.7
ELM	0.877	103.6
GRB	0.877	103.6
ILM	0.876	103.5
PSC	0.876	103.5
CLL	0.876	103.4
BMI	0.875	103.4
FLG	0.875	103.4
CRP	0.875	103.4
SLC	0.875	103.4
IMT	0.874	103.3
BIS	0.874	103.3
MLI	0.874	103.2
GPT	0.873	103.1
HOB	0.873	103.1
INL	0.873	103.1
LAR	0.872	103.0
TLH	0.872	103.0
MFE	0.872	103.0
LBB	0.872	103.0
TUL	0.871	102.9
RHI	0.871	102.9
EAU	0.871	102.9
BZN	0.871	102.9
LIT	0.870	102.8
MSN	0.870	102.8
MLB	0.870	102.7
WRG	0.870	102.7
AVP	0.869	102.7
PNS	0.869	102.6
MHT	0.869	102.6
LRD	0.869	102.6
RAP	0.868	102.6
PIT	0.868	102.5
JAN	0.868	102.5
ICT	0.867	102.4
EWN	0.866	102.3
OME	0.866	102.3
HRL	0.866	102.2
PHF	0.865	102.2
AZO	0.863	102.0
BGM	0.862	101.8
DAB	0.862	101.8
CIU	0.862	101.8
PDX	0.861	101.7
PIB	0.861	101.7
RST	0.860	101.6
BOI	0.860	101.6
VPS	0.860	101.6
OKC	0.860	101.5
PPG	0.860	101.5
GRR	0.859	101.5
FAR	0.859	101.5
ROW	0.859	101.5
OMA	0.858	101.4
SGF	0.858	101.3
BQK	0.858	101.3
ALB	0.857	101.3
ABY	0.857	101.3
MQT	0.857	101.2
HYS	0.856	101.1
CID	0.856	101.1
FSD	0.856	101.1
JLN	0.856	101.0
SEA	0.855	101.0
PVD	0.855	101.0
XNA	0.854	100.9
DRO	0.854	100.8
CWA	0.854	100.8
BDL	0.853	100.8
VLD	0.853	100.8
ITH	0.853	100.7
MSP	0.853	100.7
LFT	0.852	100.7
DAY	0.852	100.6
LAN	0.852	100.6
CMH	0.852	100.6
GTR	0.852	100.6
MKE	0.852	100.6
OAJ	0.852	100.6
MLU	0.852	100.6
FWA	0.851	100.6
HIB	0.851	100.5
DSM	0.850	100.4
GUM	0.850	100.4
LAW	0.850	100.4
PIA	0.850	100.4
CVG	0.849	100.3
TRI	0.849	100.3
MCI	0.849	100.3
MOB	0.849	100.2
ESC	0.848	100.2
BUF	0.848	100.1
MEM	0.848	100.1
BHM	0.847	100.1
ISP	0.847	100.1
STX	0.847	100.1
CAK	0.847	100.0
DVL	0.846	100.0
SAT	0.845	99.8
DTW	0.844	99.7
SHV	0.844	99.7
MDT	0.843	99.6
AEX	0.843	99.6
JAX	0.843	99.5
STT	0.843	99.5
IND	0.843	99.5
ABE	0.843	99.5
APN	0.841	99.3
CHA	0.841	99.3
FAT	0.841	99.3
AGS	0.841	99.3
GSP	0.840	99.2
DLH	0.840	99.2
TUS	0.840	99.2
MBS	0.840	99.2
EVV	0.839	99.1
JMS	0.839	99.1
TYS	0.839	99.1
SNA	0.838	99.0
COS	0.838	99.0
CSG	0.838	99.0
PSE	0.838	98.9
FAY	0.838	98.9
PAH	0.838	98.9
MRY	0.837	98.9
CAE	0.837	98.9
AUS	0.836	98.8
ROC	0.836	98.8
IAD	0.836	98.7
PLN	0.836	98.7
SDF	0.835	98.6
SBN	0.835	98.6
LEX	0.834	98.6
SPI	0.834	98.5
ELP	0.834	98.5
SYR	0.834	98.5
ERI	0.834	98.5
MSY	0.834	98.5
ATL	0.833	98.4
GNV	0.833	98.4
SAN	0.831	98.2
SBP	0.831	98.1
PHX	0.831	98.1
ABQ	0.830	98.0
CLE	0.830	98.0
CLT	0.829	97.9
ORF	0.829	97.9
ACT	0.828	97.8
MTJ	0.827	97.7
SCE	0.827	97.7
TPA	0.827	97.7
DCA	0.826	97.5
RDU	0.825	97.5
PSP	0.825	97.5
GSO	0.825	97.4
IAH	0.825	97.4
ONT	0.824	97.4
ROA	0.824	97.4
BUR	0.823	97.3
RDM	0.823	97.3
CHS	0.823	97.2
MGM	0.823	97.2
PHL	0.823	97.1
RNO	0.821	96.9
RSW	0.821	96.9
HDN	0.820	96.9
JAC	0.820	96.9
BNA	0.820	96.9
DHN	0.820	96.8
SJC	0.819	96.8
TTN	0.819	96.8
SJU	0.818	96.6
TXK	0.816	96.4
EGE	0.816	96.4
SMF	0.816	96.3
TVC	0.816	96.3
CHO	0.816	96.3
MEI	0.816	96.3
AVL	0.815	96.3
MFR	0.815	96.2
BGR	0.814	96.2
EUG	0.814	96.1
BTR	0.814	96.1
LGB	0.812	95.9
PWM	0.812	95.9
LBE	0.812	95.9
BOS	0.812	95.8
RIC	0.808	95.5
STL	0.808	95.4
SRQ	0.806	95.2
GUC	0.806	95.2
BWI	0.806	95.1
DEN	0.805	95.0
SBA	0.804	95.0
MCO	0.804	94.9
CMX	0.802	94.7
UST	0.800	94.5
CRW	0.799	94.4
SAV	0.799	94.3
HOU	0.796	94.0
LAS	0.796	94.0
MYR	0.793	93.7
DFW	0.793	93.7
OAK	0.792	93.6
MDW	0.791	93.5
BTV	0.789	93.2
BPT	0.787	92.9
DAL	0.784	92.6
HPN	0.781	92.2
PBG	0.779	92.0
RDD	0.777	91.7
JFK	0.777	91.7
FLL	0.776	91.6
ACY	0.776	91.6
SWF	0.776	91.6
SUN	0.774	91.4
SFO	0.774	91.4
MKG	0.773	91.3
SMX	0.772	91.2
MIA	0.772	91.1
PBI	0.771	91.1
LGA	0.771	91.0
ADK	0.769	90.8
ORD	0.768	90.7
LAX	0.763	90.1
SAF	0.761	89.8
EWR	0.756	89.2
ORH	0.750	88.6
ASE	0.747	88.2
ACV	0.746	88.1
BQN	0.745	88.0
IAG	0.744	87.8
OTH	0.663	78.3
MMH	0.590	69.6