Newspaper Article: the Challenges of Flying

Taken from SGMM materials at 1 https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Research/SGMM

THE CHALLENGES OF FLYING

Chicago, Illinois - With 180,000 people O’Hare does a fantastic job of flying in and out of O’Hare International making sure the planes arrive and leave Airport in Chicago each day, nearly 70 on time; however, many things can million people per year, O’Hare is one of impact this timing. Those that travel the busiest airports in the world. Being regularly can make a pretty calculated this busy has advantages for passengers. guess as to whether their flights will For instance, if one’s flight gets arrive on time. This timing is contingent cancelled, one has a very good chance of on several factors. finding another flight. Also, O’Hare has First, the origin of the flight flights to virtually every other airport in impacts the plane’s chance of arriving the world. on-time. For example, planes rarely However, along with these leave late from San Diego, California advantages come some disadvantages for due to San Diego’s great weather, but the passengers. It can be difficult to get they frequently leave San Francisco late to one’s gate, to park one’s car, to pick due to weather conditions such as fog. up one’s baggage, and to check in when Veteran travelers often try to avoid you have to compete with thousands of flights that leave San Francisco to come other people each day. Despite these to O’Hare. Second, the on-time arrival disadvantages, people keep coming back is based on the flight’s destination. For to the airport and passengers have even example, sometimes a destination takes a rated the airport as their favorite airport plane into a very busy airport that may in the world (on an internet survey). On be too small for the amount of daily air the survey, passengers provided traffic. In this case, a gate may not numerous reasons for their like of always be ready for the plane to pull up O’Hare airport. A popular reason was to and unload the passengers. Thus, the that all of the airlines at O’Hare try to plane will have to wait. Similarly, an stay on schedule. Staying on schedule is understaffed maintenance department very important, because one or two little may impact the company’s ability to fix disturbances can offset the entire airport planes on a timely basis. Third, the on- schedule. time arrival may be dependent on the Travelers typically have three company. Some airlines are known for main concerns when flying to their being consistently on-time, while other destination. First and foremost, they are airlines are known for not being on-time. concerned with safety. When asked, For some travelers, arriving on- most passengers say that they would not time is not an issue, because they are not mind being a few minutes late to ensure in a hurry. For example, a family flying that they arrive at their destination safely from Pittsburgh to Orlando in order to and without incident. After safety, the visit Disney World may not be too passengers’ second most common concerned if they arrive 15 to 30 minutes concern is whether the flight takes off late. However, business travelers may and arrives on time. Third, they want miss important meetings if their flights their baggage to be shipped to the correct arrive late. destination and to also arrive on time.